Prevalence of fatigue symptoms and correlations in the general adult population

This study sought to clarify the prevalence and associated factors of subjective fatigue symptoms, by analyzing epidemiological data for a sample of the Japanese population. Data from 1224 individuals (539 men and 685 women) aged 20 years were subsequently analyzed. Prevalence of fatigability was 17.2% (n = 211) and that of residual fatigue was 13.6% (n = 167), with women showing significantly higher prevalence of both symptoms than men (fatigability: men 12.6% vs women 20.9%, (2) = 14.43, P = 0.001; residual fatigue: men 10.0% vs women 16.5%, P = 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that being female, nonrestorative sleep, decreased quality of life, and stress showed significant positive associations with fatigability and residual fatigue. However, a significant positive association was found between depressed mood and fatigability, and short sleep duration and long working hours (9h) were specifically significantly positively associated with residual fatigue. Sleep hygiene instruction and a psychiatric approach are needed to reduce fatigue in the Japanese population.