Overview of the diagnostic process for fatigue
Diagnostic process for a patient presenting with fatigue outlines the diagnostic process for a patient presenting with fatigue.
When a patient presents with fatigue, key diagnostic questions for the clinician to consider are:
- What are the most likely causes of fatigue in a patient of this demographic (age, gender, geographic location etc)? For a guide to the prevalence of conditions associated with fatigue in different age groups, see A guide to the prevalence of conditions associated with fatigue in children and adolescents for children and adolescents, and A guide to the prevalence of conditions associated with fatigue in adults for adults. See also Conditions commonly associated with fatigue.
- What are the serious and life-threatening conditions that must not be missed? For a list of ‘red flags’ that may indicate serious underlying disease, see Red flags for serious underlying disease in patients with fatigue.
When clinical details from the patient’s history and examination are considered along with the known prevalence of conditions associated with fatigue according to demographic, the list of likely diagnoses can be refined; this process constitutes assessment of the ‘pretest probability’ of diseaseDel Mar, 2006.
For assessment considerations in specific age groups, see: