Objective To study the commonly-seen TCM syndromes of chronic fatigue （CF） from the angle of syndrome elements.Methods The CF patients were collected through the epidemiological investigation.Anonymous questionnaire investigation was adopted for the survey with the self-made Chronic Fatigue Investigation Questionnaire to calculate and analyze the distribution of syndrome elements.Results Of the 2958 effective samples

there were 782 CF patients

occupying 26.44%.The order of TCM syndrome elements in frequency from high to low was spleen deficiency

heart deficiency

liver stagnation

qi deficiency

blood deficiency

kidney deficiency

blood stasis

yang deficiency

lung deficiency

and phlegm turbidity.There were 174 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome （CFS）

occupying 5.88%

and 608 patients with idopathic chronic fatigue （ICF）

occupying 20.56%.The incidence of ICF was significantly higher than that of CFS （P<0.05）.CFS was mainly manifested as 2～4 syndromes in combination

while ICF mainly manifested as 1～3 syndromes in combination.Conclusion The common syndrome elements of CF were spleen deficiency

heart deficiency

liver stagnation

and qi deficiency;the pathogenesis includes both deficiency and excess;and the location of disease is closely related with the spleen

heart

and liver.