Table 1 Characteristics of participants with fatigue and control subjects of the German population-based Gutenberg Health Study (GHS), 2007–2012 (N = 7,930)

n

%

n

%

Sex

Male

918

20.9

3,475

79.1

p < 0.0001

Female

1,266

35.8

2,271

64.2

Education

Elementary

606

28.4

1,526

71.6

n.s.

10^th grade

543

28.9

1,337

71.1

High school

1,012

26.2

2,845

73.8

Other

23

39.0

36

61.0

Vocational training

Apprenticeship

979

29.9

2,290

70.1

p < 0.05

Technical school

319

25.9

913

74.1

University

740

25.1

2,207

74.9

Other/none

144

30.8

327

69.2

Depression (PHQ-9 ≥ 10)

n = 630; 7.9%

555

88.1

75

11.9

p < 0.0001

Medical history of depression

n = 797; 10.1%

480

60.2

317

39.8

p < 0.0001

Severe medical disease^a

n = 1,465; 22.7%

501

34.2

964

65.8

p < 0.0001

Current Smoking

n = 1,884; 23.8%

580

30.8

1,304

69.2

p < 0.0001

Alcohol abuse

n = 203; 2.6%

62

30.5

141

69.5

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

Age

47.7

7.3

48.5

7.6

p < 0.0001

SES

13.6

4.2

14.4

4.2

p < 0.0001

PHQ-9 score (Depression)

7.2

4.1

3.0

2.3

p < 0.0001

Weekly working hours

40.3

13.4

41.2

12.9

p < 0.01

Monthly net income household

3,565.5

2,216.2

4,132.2

2,844.2

p < 0.0001

Work overload

2.41

1.37

1.44

1.31

p < 0.005

Frequent overtime hours

1.76

1.49

1.28

1.20

p < 0.0001

Piece work

0.40

1.04

0.26

0.76

p < 0.0001

Shift work

0.15

0.68

0.07

0.40

p < 0.0001

Insufficient vacation or leisure time

1.51

1.55

0.74

1.11

p < 0.0001

Frequent conflicts with boss

0.91

1.40

0.40

0.95

p < 0.0001

Frequent conflicts with colleagues

0.83

1.27

0.41

0.88

p < 0.0001

Partner unemployed

0.19

0.75

0.12

0.56

p < 0.0001

Cigarettes per day

n = 1,727

14.38

10.19

12.97

9.31

p < 0.005

BMI

27.1

5.44

26.8

4.68

p < 0.01