Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 17, 2026
04:24
Acupoint Application as a Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment for Fatigue Associated with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Published on: September 5, 2025
Fatigue in the U.S. workforce: prevalence and implications for lost productive work time
Judith A Ricci1, Elsbeth Chee, Amy L Lorandeau
1Caremark, Hunt Valley, Maryland 21031, USA. judi.ricci@caremark.com
Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
|January 12, 2007
Summary
Fatigue affects nearly 40% of U.S. workers, leading to significant lost productive time (LPT) and costing employers billions annually. This prevalent issue worsens when combined with other health conditions.
Area of Science:
- Occupational Health
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Fatigue is a common complaint among workers, impacting overall well-being and productivity.
- Understanding the economic burden of fatigue is crucial for developing targeted interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To estimate the prevalence of fatigue in the U.S. working population.
- To quantify the associated health-related lost productive time (LPT) in terms of hours and economic cost.
Main Methods:
- A national cross-sectional telephone survey of U.S. workers was conducted.
- Data collected included fatigue prevalence, LPT due to fatigue, and general health-related LPT.
Main Results:
- The 2-week period prevalence of fatigue was 37.9%.
- Workers experiencing fatigue reported health-related LPT at a rate of 65.7% compared to 26.4% without fatigue.
- Annual health-related LPT due to fatigue cost employers $136.4 billion, an excess of $101.0 billion compared to non-fatigued workers.
- Fatigue, especially when co-occurring with other conditions, significantly increases condition-specific LPT.
Conclusions:
- Fatigue is a widespread issue within the U.S. workforce.
- The presence of fatigue, particularly alongside other health conditions, is strongly associated with increased condition-specific lost productive time.
Related Concept Videos
01:21Fatigue
Fatigue occurs when materials rupture under repeated or fluctuating loads, even at stress levels far below their static breaking strength. It typically results in brittle failure, even for ductile materials. It is a critical consideration in designing machines and structural components subjected to repetitive or varying loads. The nature of these loadings can range from fluctuating loads like unbalanced pump impellers causing vibrations to repeatedly bending a thin steel rod wire back and forth...
01:24Muscle Recovery and Fatigue
Muscle fatigue refers to the decline in a muscle's ability to maintain the force of contraction after prolonged activity. It primarily stems from changes within muscle fibers. Even before experiencing muscle fatigue, one may feel tired and have the urge to stop the activity. This response, known as central fatigue, occurs due to changes in the central nervous system, namely the brain and spinal cord. While there is no single mechanism that induces fatigue, it may serve as a protective response...
01:13Insufficient Sleep and Sleep Deprivation
Insufficient sleep refers to not getting the recommended amount of sleep for optimal functioning, even if it's just slightly less than needed. Sleep insufficiency may occur due to lifestyle choices, such as staying up late for social events or work, resulting in routinely getting less sleep than required. For example, consistently sleeping 6 hours when the body needs 7-9 hours can lead to cumulative effects on health and well-being.
Sleep deprivation is a more severe form of sleep loss...
Sleep deprivation is a more severe form of sleep loss...
02:30Quantifying Work
As a system undergoes a change, its internal energy can change, and energy can be transferred from the system to the surroundings, or from the surroundings to the system.
01:22Fatigue Strength of Concrete
Fatigue, in the context of materials science and engineering, refers to the weakening or failure of a material caused by repeatedly applied loads, even if these loads are below the strength limit of the material. Fatigue strength in concrete is a critical property that influences its durability and longevity. Concrete can fail in two ways due to fatigue. Static fatigue or creep rupture occurs under a constant load or one that increases slowly. The other failure mode is due to cyclical or...
01:08The Availability Heuristic
A heuristic is a general problem-solving framework (Tversky & Kahneman, 1974). You can think of these as mental shortcuts that are used to solve problems. Different types of heuristics are used in different types of situations, and the impulse to use a heuristic occurs when one of five conditions is met (Pratkanis, 1989):