Abstract
Objectives : Fatigue is a common symptom experienced by everyone. Nevertheless, clinicians have a tendency of ignoring it since fatigue itself is not considered a distinct disease. Actually, some limited research about chronic fatigue syndrome has been made within the country, but in reality, the probability of getting this syndrome is still considered very low due to the strict diagnosis standard. Therefore, there are tremendous numbers of patients who do not get enough attention from clinicians for their fatigue symptoms only because technically they do not belong to the syndrome. Therefore, a basic statistical database must be compiled and patient management programs must be developed. To accomplish this, we conducted this study by measuring degree of fatigue, clinical characteristics and processes of Oriental medical treatment of fatigue patients. Methods : The objects of this study were selected from the new patients who entered the tonification Clinic in Kynnghee Oriental Medical Center between August 11, 2000 and October 7, 2000. Their main complaint was fatigue and they did not suffer from any physical or mental problem either historically or at the time of the study. The objects were divided into two groups based on duration of fatigue; fatigue under 6 months is considered as acute fatigue and fatigue for longer than 6 months is chronic fatigue. The prepared survey sheet for measuring fatigue degree was distributed to the patients with their consent. The patients were divided again into three subgroups : the fIrst group went through 1st test and constitution test after tonification clinic; the second one went into constitution test skipping Ist measuring test; the third one went into only tonification clinic with neither 1st measuring test nor constitution test. Results : The total number of object patients was 47 and 80% of them were considered as 'fatigue patients' by the Chalder scale. Among all patients, 29.5% requested treatment for chronic fatigue, which is over 6 months. The average of scale II for all patients was 14.8, which indicates moderate fatigue. The averages of scale II-1, II-2, II-3 were respectively 7.5, 5.9, and 3.7 so the most common complaint was physical fatigue. When compared scale II based on occupations, student group scored 6.9 and office man group scored 8.5 in scale II-1, physical fatigue, but it was not significant. Conclusions : Numerous number of patients have come to Oriental medical centers or hospitals in Korea. Therefore, deeper statistical research and follow-up-monitoring are reqnired in the Oriental medical academic world. In this study, among all patients who entered the tonification Clinic in Kyunghee Oriental Medical Center, 29.5% requested treatment for chronic fatigue, which is over 6 months. This kind of statistical report is the first time trial in the Oriental medical academy world. Through these steps, more objective treatment can be made and standards of prognosis assessment can be established.tablished.
