Fatigue severity scale
What It Measures
The Fatigue Severity Scale measures how much fatigue is interfering with a person's life, not simply whether they feel tired. That distinction matters clinically: two people can report the same level of tiredness while one is still working and exercising and the other has stopped both.
Nine statements cover the effects fatigue has — on motivation, on exercise, on the ability to carry out duties, on work, family, and social life — plus whether fatigue is among the person's most disabling symptoms. Each is rated from 1, strongly disagree, to 7, strongly agree. Scores can be reported as a total from 9 to 63 or as a mean from 1 to 7. A mean of 4 or above is the common threshold for clinically significant fatigue.
Further Reading
Additional Notes
Licensing Notes: The scale is reproduced without fee across clinical and academic resources and is commonly described as freely available, but the AMA copyright means republication in a commercial product should be confirmed rather than assumed.
Learn More: Two scoring conventions circulate and they are not interchangeable — a "score of 36" (total) and a "score of 4" (mean) can describe the same person. Check which study was used.
