Scheeresa K et al. - This study showed that illness duration, physical impairment due to fatigue, and psychological perpetuating factors of fatigue do determine the variance in CFS patients' health care use. Methods
Aim was to determine if reducing the related costs for patients and society will be useful to know which factors determine CFS patients' amount of health care use
Possible factors determining CFS patients' (n=263) health care use were investigated
Health care use was measured with a questionnaire
Fatigue severity and physical functioning were measured with the subscale Experienced Fatigue of the Checklist Individual Strength (CIS-20) and the subscale Physical Functioning of the SF-36, respectively
Results
After controlling for patient characteristics, fatigue factors added 4% predictive value
Certain perpetuating factors of fatigue, including focus on bodily symptoms and attributions of fatigue, added another 5%
Compared to the tertiary care population, fewer pts from primary/secondary care had visited a medical specialist, used antidepressants and tranquilizers, and had spent a night in hospital
Overall costs of health care between these subgroups did not differ
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