Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27521412›Full record

ArticleCanadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien2016

Psychosocial diagnoses occurring after patients present with fatigue.

Peter Reagh MacKean, Moira Stewart, Heather L Maddocks

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
0.7field-weighted citation impact, top 27% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 7 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Making the case for the study of symptoms in family practice.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2020
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Peter Reagh MacKeanFamily physician practising in Kensington, PEI, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the Prince Edward Island site of Dalhousie University. pmackean@pei.sympatico.ca.
Moira StewartDistinguished University Professor in the Centre for Studies in Family Medicine in the Department of Family Medicine, and in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western University in London, Ont, and is the Dr Brian W. Gilbert Canada Research Chair in Primary Health Care Research.
Heather L MaddocksScientist in the Centre for Studies in Family Medicine in the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western University.
Centre for Family Medicine · CAUniversity of Prince Edward Island · CAWestern University · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo discover the frequency of psychosocial and other diagnoses occurring at the end of a visit when patients present to their FPs with concerns about fatigue.

designCross-sectional study of patient-FP encounters for fatigue.

settingTen FP practices in southwestern Ontario.

participantsA total of 259 encounters involving 167 patients presenting to their FPs between March 1, 2006, and June 30, 2010, with concerns about fatigue.

main outcome measuresThe frequency of psychological and social diagnoses made at the end of visits, and whether diagnoses were made by FPs at the end of the visits versus whether the code for fatigue remained. The associations between patient age, sex, fatigue presenting with other symptoms, or the presence of previous chronic conditions and the outcomes was tested.

resultsPsychosocial diagnoses were made 23.9% of the time. Among psychosocial diagnoses made, depressive disorder and anxiety disorder or anxiety state were diagnosed more often in women (P = .048). Slightly less than 30% of the time, the cause of patients' fatigue remained undiagnosed at the end of the encounter. A diagnosis was made more often in men.

conclusionCauses of fatigue frequently remain undiagnosed; however, when there is a diagnosis, psychosocial diagnoses are common. Therefore, it would be appropriate for FPs to screen for psychosocial issues when their patients present with fatigue, unless some other diagnosis is evident. Depression and anxiety could be considered particularly among female patients with fatigue.

Indexed as

AdolescentAdultAgedAnxietyAnxiety DisordersChronic DiseaseCross-Sectional StudiesDepressionDepressive DisorderFatigueFemaleHumansLogistic ModelsMaleMiddle AgedOntario

Identifiers

PMID27521412
PMCPMC4982745
OpenAlexW2508992384

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.