Objectives-To determine the prevalence of fatigue in the general population and the factors associated with fatigue.Design-Postal survey.Setting-Six general practices in southern England. IntroductionCommunity surveys have shown that fatigue is common in developed countries. A British survey of those attending general practice found that 10-2% of men and 10-6% of women had had substantial fatigue for over a month.' Despite its prevalence, however, surprisingly few data exist on the demographic and social associations offatigue.2In recent years fatigue has attracted renewed attention, largely because of the prominence given to the chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as postviral fatigue or myalgic encephalomyelitis. However, controversy exists concerning not only the relative contributions of infective and psychological risk factors but the classification of the syndrome itself. These disputes cannot be resolved without sound community studies.3Nearly all studies of chronic fatigue syndrome have been conducted in tertiary referral settings, where the typical patient is a young adult, usually a woman, with a professional job. Most patients trace their illness to an infective trigger but also fulfil criteria for a psychiatric disorder.47 The infective and psychiatric characteristics may, however, be the result of referral patterns and illness behaviour and not intrinsically related to the chronic fatigue syndrome.We conducted a large community survey to determine the level of fatigue and psychiatric morbidity in a population, to explore the association between fatigue and psychological distress, and to identify what fatigue is commonly attributed to.

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