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. 2019 Oct:125:109810.
doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2019.109810. Epub 2019 Aug 13.

The association of major life events with chronic fatigue

Karen B Schmaling  1 , Thomas L Patterson  2
Affiliations

The association of major life events with chronic fatigue

Karen B Schmaling et al. J Psychosom Res. 2019 Oct.

Abstract

Objective: Major life events have been associated with the onset of unexplained chronic fatigue (CF) and with variability in illness course. The purpose of this study was to characterize the associations of major life events with illness status over time.

Method: Sentinel measures of clinical status were collected four times over 18 months in a cohort of 99 persons with CF; participants also were interviewed regarding major life events, which were independently rated by observers.

Results: Over time, more major life events attributed to CF predicted a worse clinical course, suggesting that illness-related major life events rather than stressful life events in general are associated with worse clinical status for persons with CF.

Conclusion: This study adds to the literature regarding specific types of life events' relationship to illness course, which has implications for the management of CF.

Keywords: Chronic fatigue; Life events; Outcome; Stress.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest

None.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Average CF Symptom Scores by Time and Number of Patient-Rated Major Life Events Related to CF Note: from the bottom to the top of the figure, the bottom four solid lines show average CF symptoms scores for patients who reported zero, one, two, and three major life events related to CF in the six months prior to each research appointment, respectively. The top two dashed lines are those who reported five and six MLEs at each research appointment, respectively. The solid lines suggest decreasing or steady CF symptoms across time for those with zero through four major life events; the dashed lines suggest that five or six major life events are associated with increasing CF symptoms.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Average SF-36 Vitality Scores by Time and Number of Observer-Rated Major Life Events Related to CF Note: the top, solid line are patients with zero observer-rated CF-related MLEs at each research appointment; the middle line (shorter dashes) are those with one MLE; and the bottom line (longer dashes) are those with two MLEs.
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