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The 'Shortened fatigue questionnaire' (SFQ) is a short, reliable and easily used instrument to determine the intensity of the patient's bodily fatigue. It consists of four questions which the patient answers by checking an item at a 7-point scale ('I feel tired', 'I tire easily', 'I feel fit' and 'I feel physically exhausted'). The physician can then calculate a total score and compare it with the score in standard groups (standardized by load-bearing). The questionnaire can be completed simply and quickly. It constitutes a valuable addition in daily medical practice and in clinical scientific studies for the assessment of fatigue complaints

Background—Little is known about the comparability of outpatients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and patients with IBS in primary care with regard to severity of complaints, perceived limitations, other aspects of the complaints, and sex differences.Aims—To compare outpatients with IBS with primary care patients with IBS.Patients—One hundred and nine patients with IBS were recruited from general practices in Amsterdam and 86 patients with IBS were recruited from the outpatient clinic of the Department of Internal Medicine of the University Hospital in Nijmegen.Methods—Each patient completed a questionnaire on demographic variables, abdominal complaints, related complaints, and attributed causes of their abdominal complaints. The scores of the two groups were compared by univariate and multivariate analysis.Results—The outpatient group contained significantly more men, reported more severe abdominal pain, more frequent complaints, more interference with daily activities, and a higher degree of avoidance of activities (pConclusions—Female outpatients consider their complaints to be more serious and interfering than do patients with IBS in primary care. Male outpatients were comparable to primary care patients with IBS. More research needs to be done into sex specific differences in IBS and into the factors that influence the decision to refer a patient with IBS.

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Objective. To investigate the relation between severity of complaints, laboratory data and psychological parameters in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Subjects. Eighty-eight patients with CFS and 77 healthy controls matched for age, sex and geographical area. Methods. Patients and controls visited our outpatient clinic for a detailed medical history, physical examination and psychological tests: Checklist Individual Strength (CIS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Sickness Impact Profile (SIP). Venous blood was drawn for a complete blood cell count, serum chemistry panel, C-reactive protein and serological tests on a panel of infectious agents. Results. All patients fulfilled the criteria for CFS as described by Sharpe et al. (J R Soc Med 1991; 84: 118–21), only 18 patients (20.5%) fulfilled the CDC criteria. The outcome of serum chemistry tests and haematological tests were within the normal range. No significant differences were found in the outcome of serological tests. Compared to controls, significant differences were found in the results on the CIS, the BDI, and the SIP. These results varied with the number of complaints (CDC criteria). When the number of complaints was included as the covariate in the analysis, there were no significant differences on fatigue severity, depression, and functional impairment between patients who fulfilled the CDC criteria and patients who did not. Conclusion. It is concluded that the psychological parameters of fatigue severity, depression and functional impairment are related to the clinical severity of the illness. Because the extensive panel of laboratory tests applied in this study did not discriminate between patients and controls, it was not possible to investigate a possible relation between the outcomes of psychological and laboratory testing.