A community-based cross-sectional study of fatigue in middle-aged and elderly women

Background: Fatigue has been widely studied in the general population; however, limited studies have investigated it in the female population. The objectives of this community-based study were to (1) investigate the prevalence of fatigue, (2) explore the relationship between gynecological history and experiences of fatigue, and (3) identify risk factors for fatigue in middle-aged and elderly women. Methods: Based on a cross-sectional health study that employed a multi-instrument questionnaire, 1272 women aged 45 years or older dwelling in the community were included. The Chinese version of Chalder Fatigue Scale (CFS) was used to assess fatigue, and socio-demographic, health-related, and gynecological data were also collected. Fatigue was defined as a total CFS score >= 4. Results: The prevalence of fatigue among women aged over 45 years was 33.9%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified that older age, single marital status, lower education level, the presence of chronic diseases, underweight, hospitalization in the last year, postmenopause, and a higher number of live births were associated with an increased risk of fatigue (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Our results indicated that fatigue was common in middle-aged and elderly females. Being postmenopausal and having more than three live births were the particular gynecological factors contributing to fatigue in the general population. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc All rights reserved.