title: The differential diagnosis of fatigue and executive dysfunction in primary care.
abstract: The diagnosis of the patient reporting fatigue or the signs of executive dysfunction can be perplexing for the primary care physician. Both symptoms are associated with a wide range of both somatic and psychiatric symptoms and often occur together, although they can exist independently. Using some simple diagnostic and mnemonic tools, such as BATHE, SIG E CAPS, and SWIKIR, may aid the clinician in differentiating possible causes of fatigue and executive dysfunction and determining whether they are signs of physical or mental disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, PA, USA. jlieberman@jalmd.com
authors.forename: Joseph A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Lieberman
mesh_terms: D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005221:Fatigue / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008487:Medical History Taking / Q000379:methods*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011320:Primary Health Care