Mental fatigue is a common symptom following Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), or stroke. In the case of long-lasting mental fatigue, the mental fatigue could be one important factor that keeps people from returning to the full range of activities they pursued prior to their injury with work, studies and social activities. Mental fatigue is no illness, rather it represents a mental sequel probably due to disturbance of higher brain functions, either physical or psychological in origin. It is included in, and defined within the diagnoses Mild cognitive impairment (F06.7), Neurasthenia (F48.0) and Posttraumatic brain syndrome (F07.2). Annually, about 100-300/100 000 sustain a TBI and most of the injuries are mild. Fatigue is one of the most important long-lasting symptoms, but it is difficult to arrive at any clear figure as to how common fatigue or especially mental fatigue is, since different results have been obtained due to differences in definitions and methodological differences between the studies. A majority of patients recover within one to three months after a mild TBI. Improvement from fatigue has been reported during the first year following TBI, after which time the improvement has been limited. In follow-up studies, the frequency of prolonged fatigue varies between 16 and 73%. Fatigue is also commonly reported after stroke, irrespective of severity.
Evaluation of the Mental Fatigue Scale and its relation to Cognitive and Emotional Functioning after Traumatic Brain Injury or Stroke: Birgitta Johansson and Lars Ronnback
Last date updated on April, 2024
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