Neurasthenia: prevalence, disability and health care characteristics in the Australian community.

Background: Neurasthenia imposes a high burden on primary medical health care systems in all societies.

Aims: To determine the prevalence of ICD-10 neurasthenia and associated comorbidity, disability and health care utilisation.

Method: Utilisation of a national sample of Australian households previously surveyed using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview and other measures.

Results: Prolonged and excessive fatigue was reported by 1465 people (13.29% of the sample). Of these, one in nine people meet current ICD-10 criteria for neurasthenia. Comorbidity was associated with affective, anxiety and physical disorders. People with neurasthenia alone (<0.5% of the population) were less disabled and used less services than those with comorbid disorders.

Conclusions: Fatigue is frequent in the Australian community and is common in people attending general practice. Neurasthenia is disabling and demanding of services largely because of its comorbidity with other mental and physical disorders. Until a remedy for persistent fatigue is provided, doctors should take an active psychological approach to treatment.