Fatigue Related Factors in Chronic Fatigue Patients with Chronic Widespread Pain after Treatment

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The mechanism of fatigue in patients with fibromyalgia (FM) and CFS (CFS) has not been clarified, but recently there are opinions that chronic pain is a major factor causing chronic fatigue. We performed this study to identify major factors related to chronic fatigue. METHODS: The subjects were 37 patients aged over 18 who visited the primary care institute of a university hospital, whose major symptoms were chronic widespread pain and chronic fatigue and who were given the diagnosis of FM or CFS. The research was carried out through four weeks of symptomatic treatment. The correlation of fatigue severity with the intensity of pain, depression level and anxiety level was analyzed, and regression analysis was conducted to examine the relation between improvement of fatigue after the four weeks' treatment and changes in the intensity of pain, depression level and anxiety level. RESULTS: After the four week treatment, only the intensity of pain was significantly correlatied with fatigue severity. In addition, only change in the intensity of pain was statistically significantly correlatied with the improvement of fatigue. CONCLUSION: In patients who complained of chronic fatigue and chronic widespread pain, the improvement of fatigue after treatment was related to the reduction of pain but not emotional factors such as depression and anxiety.