The perception of fatigue and its role in patient management in patients who are presented with fatigue

Aim: In this study, we aimed to determine the fatigue perception and its relationship with fatigue severity, sociodemographic characteristics, history, physical examination and laboratory findings in patients with complaints of fatigue. Method: This study was carried out as a cross-sectional study between June 2016 and June 2017 in Karadeniz Technical University Family Medicine Outpatient Clinic. Fatigue perceptions of voluntary individuals aged 18 years and over who were complaining of fatigue for at least 1 month were evaluated with a structured survey prepared by researchers (n=116). The Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) and Checklist Individual Strength surveys were conducted with face to face interview technique. Patients' records including history, physical examination and laboratory results were included in the study. Results: The mean age of participants was 29.5 ± 9.8 years and 87.9% were female. We asked patients "what do they mean by fatigue?" and "what fatigue complaints contain?". Tiredness, lack of energy and insomnia / somnolence / desire to sleep were the most common answers. The perception that had highest score on the FSS was the needle hurt sensation for all body. In patients' records, the rate of patients who reported sleeping problems was 72.8%. Sixty nine percent of the patients' depression screening were positive. In 84.5% there were vitamin D deficiency. When the relationship between fatigue perceptions and possible etiologic factors was examined, it was observed that most of them were related with the depression risk. The most related perceptions of fatigue with depression risk were "psychological breakdown", "exhaustion", "not able to stand" Conclusion: With considering the frequency of fatigue, family physicians should not regard this symptom as a single pattern. They should investigate its content and try to understand the patient. This is important for both facilitating patient management and avoiding unnecessary health expenditures.