To check the connection between age and fatigue, Kessler Foundation researchers conducted a novel study using neuroimaging and self-report data. Their findings were published online on May 9, 2022, in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience within the open access article, “Fatigue across the lifespan in men and girls: State vs. trait” (doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.790006).

The authors are Glenn Wylie, DPhil, Amanda Pra Sisto, Helen M. Genova, PhD, and John DeLuca, PhD, of Kessler Foundation. All have faculty appointments at Rutgers Recent Jersey Medical School. Dr. Wylie can also be a research scientist at The Department of Veterans’ Affairs War-related Injury and Illness Study Center on the Recent Jersey Healthcare System.

Their study is the primary to report the results of gender and age on each ‘state’ and ‘trait’ fatigue, and the primary to report fatigue-related differences in brain activation across the lifespan and across gender during a cognitively fatiguing task. “State” measure of fatigue assesses a subject’s instantaneous experience of fatigue on the time of testing; “trait” measure of fatigue assesses how much fatigue a subject experienced over an extended time period, comparable to the previous 4 weeks.

Researchers collected data on trait fatigue and state fatigue from 43 healthy men and girls aged 20 to 63 years. State fatigue was measured during fMRI scans while participants performed a cognitively difficult task. The study was conducted on the Rocco Ortenzio Neuroimaging Center at Kessler Foundation, a specialized facility dedicated solely to rehabilitation research. They found that older individuals reported less state fatigue.

Dr. Wylie, director of the Ortenzio Center, commented: “Our neuroimaging data show that the role of middle frontal areas of the brain changes with age. Younger individuals may use these areas to combat fatigue, but this isn’t the case with older individuals. Furthermore, these results suggest that girls show greater resilience when faced with a fatiguing task.”

This study is a crucial first step toward explaining a number of the differences reported within the literature of fatigue, by showing that state and trait measures of fatigue measure different points of fatigue, and that age and gender each appear to affect the connection between state fatigue and brain activation.”

Dr. Glenn Wylie, DPhil, Kessler Foundation

Source:

Journal reference:

Wylie, G.R., et al. (2022) Fatigue across the lifespan in men and girls: State vs. trait. Frontiers in Neuroscience. doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2022.790006.