Fatigue and Its Association with Socio-Demographic and Clinical Variables in a Working Population

Park, Soyoung; Joe, Sook Haeng; Kim, Seung Hyun; Han, Chang Su; Ham, Byung Joo; Ko, Young Hoon

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
We aimed to explore the relationship among fatigue and perceived stress, depressive mood in the working population. We also examined associations with demographic and life style factors and investigated the effect of individual coping skills on these associations.
METHODS
Fatigue Severity Scale(FSS), Perceived Stress Scale(PSS), Brief Encounter Psychosocial Instrument - Korean version(BEPSI-K), Beck Depression Inventory(BDI), Stress Coping Skill Questionnaire were administered to 621 civil servants. All of above and other demographic factors are self-administered questionnaire survey and this study is cross sectional.
RESULTS
Mean FSS score was 3.04 which was lower than 3.22, the severity cut off score. FSS, PSS, BEPSI-K, BDI were all higher in female. Subjects with active coping skills showed relatively low fatigue, perceived stress, depressive mood than those with passive coping skills. Logistic regression analyses indicated that the PSS, BDI, BEPSI-K in working population increase the risk of fatigue and regular exercise lowers the risk.
CONCLUSIONS
Adults who were afflicted by stress, experienced depressive mood or were physically inactive were at much higher risk of feeling fatigue. Since no other large data sets are available for fatigue, the results from this study could serve a very useful purpose, to furnish a basis for comparison with future research results based on more complete data.