Association of general fatigue with cellular immune indicators among healthy white-collar employees.

Nakata, Akinori; Irie, Masahiro; Takahashi, Masaya · J Occup Environ Med · 2011

cross_sectional · Level IV

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Abstract

Although fatigue is a common complaint in the working population, underlying immunological mechanisms are not well understood. This study investigated the association of general fatigue with cellular immune indicators. A total of 148 healthy white-collar employees (70% men) underwent a blood draw for the measurement of natural killer (NK), B, and T cell counts as well as NK cell cytotoxicity (NKCC) and completed two different fatigue scales, that is, Profile of Mood State (POMS) and Maastricht Questionnaire (MQ). Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that POMS fatigue score was significantly associated with decreases of NK cells (β = -.407) and NKCC (β = -.215), whereas MQ fatigue score was significantly associated with reduced NK cells (β = -.290) but not with NKCC (β = -.127). The results suggest that general fatigue may be related to impaired NK cell competency among healthy employees.

Medical subject headings