The following is a summary of “Chronic fatigue in the general population: Prevalence, natural course and associations with chronic pain (the HUNT pain study),” published in the June 2024 issue of Pain by Glette et al.

While both fatigue and pain are widespread and frequently co-occur in the general population (GP), a lack of standardized fatigue measurement hinders understanding of the long-term course and impact on functioning and overall health.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study identifying long-term patterns of energy and fatigue in GPs and exploring whether chronic pain was linked to a worse prognosis for developing chronic fatigue.

They categorized 4,771 participants into distinct trajectory groups, utilizing 5 datasets collected quarterly to identify different groups.

The result showed 5 distinct energy level patterns over time,”  ‘much energy’ (n = 1471, [31%]), ‘varying energy’ (n = 1445, [30%]), ‘some energy’ (n = 921, [19%]), ‘low energy’ [chronic moderate fatigue] (n = 852, [18%]) and ‘no energy’ [chronic severe fatigue] (n = 82, [2%]). Within the “low energy” group, individuals with chronic pain were less likely to experience improvement in their energy levels over the following 3 years (OR = 0.67, 95% CI [0.52, 0.88]).

Investigators concluded that chronic fatigue was prevalent in the GP, with a minority experiencing severe chronic fatigue. Chronic pain reduced the probability of fatigue improvement, indicating a reciprocal relationship between both aspects.

Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ejp.2307