About 20,000 people are on sick leave each year for fatigue syndrome, what was previously called burnout. It is approximately every sixth sick leave caused by psychiatric disorders that last more than two weeks, according to The Social Insurance Office. Median length for sick leave is around six months.
Is only available in Sweden
But from 2028, the diagnosis disappears from Sweden, reports Psychology magazine. Then the international diagnosis system is updated from ICD-10 to ICD-11, and it is only in Sweden that fatigue syndrome is available as a diagnosis.
Just specifically the diagnosis of fatigue syndrome with the specific criteria, only we in Sweden have had. But other solutions have been found in other countries to try to characterize this clinical picture, says Elin Lindsäter, associate professor at Karolinska Institutet, to TT.
It is therefore not about tens of thousands of people who are currently on sick leave not to be that in the future.
Rather, I think that everyone from the politician level down to the floor knows that there are people who have a great suffering and who do not work at work or in their everyday lives, and who may need sick leave, says Elin Lindsäter.
Elin Lindsäter. Press image.
Elin Lindsäter. Press image.
Photo: Kristoffer Pettersson.
Used strenuously
Lindsäter says that some meet the criteria for depression. There are also other stress -related diagnoses.
Fatigue syndrome has been able to be used quite strenuously as a diagnosis in health care, so my hope is that now you may make a more thorough assessment.
This may mean that the treatments are becoming more accurate, she hopes.
I think it can be better, not least for those who have a very complex problem.
Long -awaited update
Magdalena Fresk, head of the unit for classifications and terminology at the National Board of Health and Welfare, says that the authority manages the Swedish translation of WHO’s diagnostic classification and the work on the translation will continue the whole 2025 – only then they can start looking at the consequences.
The previous diagnosis system had many years on the neck and according to Fresk this is “a long -awaited, medically updated version”.
There are changes in that classification and we know that fatigue syndrome is not included as its own category. We know about it and we need to look at it especially, she says.
We have a number of questions that we know that here we will have to work so that there will be no problems for patients and for it to work as well as possible in the future.
Facts: fatigue syndrome
Fatigue syndrome is caused by severe stress in combination with too little recovery. Previously, it was called burnout or fatigue depression.
Common symptoms are fatigue (which cannot be rested), fatigue, sleep difficulties, anxiety, concentration difficulties, palpitations and sound sensitivity.
The diagnosis was introduced in the early 2000s and approximately 20,000 people are on sick leave each year for fatigue syndrome. Last year, the diagnosis was the second most common for started sick leave (after acute stress reaction).
Sources: 1177, Försäkringskassan.