Long-term Symptoms of Mental Fatigue in Patients with Stress-related Exhaustion Are Not Related to Sex, Age or Initial Burden of Symptoms.

Abstract

Introduction We have previously shown that the burden of symptoms in patient with stress-related exhaustion is considerable. Beside from the exhaustion, most patients also fulfill diagnostic criteria for depression and anxiety and report large number of somatic symptoms. Objectives To explore symptoms of exhaustion in patients with stress-related exhaustion, 5 years after seeking care. Aims How many patients with report symptoms of clinical exhaustion 5 years after seeking care? Can sex, age and/or initial level of mental symptoms (depression, anxiety or exhaustion) explain the long recovery? Methods This study comprises data from 105 patients (69% women, mean age 43 years) who fulfilled the criteria for Exhaustion Disorder. Shirom-Melamed Burnout Questionnaire was used to assess the symptoms of exhaustion five years after the patients initially sought care. Logistic regression was used to analyze plausible predictors of symptom duration. Results As many as 41% of the patients still reported clinical level of exhaustion 5 years after initially seeking care. No difference was seen between men and women and neither burden of co-morbid depression and anxiety or age did significantly influence the recovery. Conclusions Symptoms of exhaustion was reported by almost half of patients with stress-related exhaustion five years after seeking care- This is unrelated to sex and age. Co-morbid depression and anxiety does not predict recovery. These long-lasting symptoms reported by these patients need to be further explored in order to explain why some patients still report markedly high burden of symptoms several years after seeking medical care.