Fatigue in patients with chronic disease: results from the population-based Lifelines Cohort Study.

(1) To evaluate the prevalence of severe and chronic fatigue in subjects with and without chronic disease; (2) to assess to which extent multi-morbidity contributes to severe and chronic fatigue; and (3) to identify predisposing and associated factors for severe and chronic fatigue and whether these are disease-specific, trans-diagnostic, or generic. The Dutch Lifelines cohort was used, including 78,363 subjects with (n = 31,039, 53 ± 12 years, 33% male) and without (n = 47,324, 48 ± 12 years, 46% male) ≥ 1 of 23 chronic diseases. Fatigue was assessed with the Checklist Individual Strength-Fatigue. Compared to participants without a chronic disease, a higher proportion of participants with ≥ 1 chronic disease were severely (23% versus 15%, p < 0.001) and chronically (17% versus 10%, p < 0.001) fatigued. The odds of having severe fatigue (OR [95% CI]) increased from 1.6 [1.5-1.7] with one chronic disease to 5.5 [4.5-6.7] with four chronic diseases; for chronic fatigue from 1.5 [1.5-1.6] to 4.9 [3.9-6.1]. Multiple trans-diagnostic predisposing and associated factors of fatigue were found, explaining 26% of variance in fatigue in chronic disease. Severe and chronic fatigue are highly prevalent in chronic diseases. Multi-morbidity increases the odds of having severe and chronic fatigue. Several trans-diagnostic factors were associated with fatigue, providing a rationale for a trans-diagnostic approach.

The prevalence and related factors of fatigue in patients with COPD: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Fatigue is a distressing symptom in patients with COPD. Little is known about the factors that contribute to fatigue in COPD. This review summarises existing knowledge on the prevalence of fatigue, factors related to fatigue and the instruments most commonly used to assess fatigue in COPD. METHODS: Pubmed, PsycINFO, EMBASE, Cochrane and CINAHL databases were searched for studies from inception up to 7 January 2020 using the medical subject headings "COPD" and "Fatigue". Studies were reviewed in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. RESULTS: 196 studies were evaluated. The prevalence of fatigue ranged from 17-95%. Age (r=-0.23 to r=0.27), sex (r=0.11), marital status (r=-0.096), dyspnoea (r=0.13 to r=0.78), forced expiatory volume in 1 s % predicted (r=-0.55 to r=-0.076), number of exacerbations (r=0.27 to r=0.38), number of comorbidities (r=0.10), number of medications (r=0.35), anxiety (r=0.36 to r=0.61), depression (r=0.41 to r=0.66), muscle strength (r=-0.78 to r=-0.45), functional capacity (r=-0.77 to r=-0.14) and quality of life (r=0.48 to r=0.77) showed significant associations with fatigue. CONCLUSIONS: Fatigue is a prevalent symptom in patients with COPD. Multiple physical and psychological factors seem to be associated with fatigue. Future studies are needed to evaluate these underlying factors in integral analyses in samples of patients with COPD.

Pulmonary Rehabilitation Reduces Subjective Fatigue in COPD: A Responder Analysis.

To date, it remains unknown which patients report a clinically-relevant improvement in fatigue following pulmonary rehabilitation (PR). The purpose of this study was to identify and characterize these responders. Demographics, lung function, anxiety (anxiety subscale of the 90-item symptom checklist (SCL-90-A)), depression (Beck depression inventory for primary care (BDI-PC)), exercise tolerance (six-minute walking distance test (6MWD)), and health status (Nijmegen clinical screening instrument (NCSI)) were assessed before and after a 12-week PR programme. Fatigue was assessed using the checklist individual strength (CIS)-Fatigue. Patients with a decline ≥ 10 points (minimally clinically important difference, MCID) on the CIS-Fatigue were defined as responders. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients (n = 446, 61 ± 9 years, 53% male, forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) 43% ± 18% predicted, 75% severe fatigue) were included. Mean change in fatigue after PR was 10 ± 12 points (p < 0.01) and exceeded the MCID. In total, 56% were identified as fatigue responders. Baseline CIS-Fatigue (45 ± 7 vs. 38 ± 9 points, respectively, p < 0.001) and health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL; p < 0.001) were different between responders and non-responders. No differences were found in demographics, baseline anxiety, depression, lung function, 6MWD, and dyspnoea (p-values > 0.01). Responders on fatigue reported a greater improvement in anxiety, depression, 6MWD, dyspnoea (all p-values < 0.001), and most health status parameters. PR reduces fatigue in COPD. Responders on fatigue have worse fatigue and HRQoL scores at baseline, and are also likely to be responders on other outcomes of PR.

Fatigue is Highly Prevalent in Patients with Asthma and Contributes to the Burden of Disease.

The 2018 update of the Global Strategy for Asthma Management and Prevention does not mention fatigue-related symptoms. Nevertheless, patients with asthma frequently report tiredness, lack of energy, and daytime sleepiness. Quantitative research regarding the prevalence of fatigue in asthmatic patients is lacking. This retrospective cross-sectional study of outpatients with asthma upon referral to a chest physician assessed fatigue (Checklist Individual Strength-Fatigue (CIS-Fatigue)), lung function (spirometry), asthma control (Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ)), dyspnea (Medical Research Council (MRC) scale), exercise capacity (six-minute walk test (6MWT)), and asthma-related Quality-of-Life (QoL), Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ) during a comprehensive health-status assessment. In total, 733 asthmatic patients were eligible and analyzed (47.4 ± 16.3 years, 41.1% male). Severe fatigue (CIS-Fatigue ≥ 36 points) was detected in 62.6% of patients. Fatigue was not related to airflow limitation (FEV1, ρ = -0.083); was related moderately to ACQ (ρ = 0.455), AQLQ (ρ = -0.554), and MRC (ρ = 0.435; all p-values < 0.001); and was related weakly to 6MWT (ρ = -0.243, p < 0.001). In stepwise multiple regression analysis, 28.9% of variance in fatigue was explained by ACQ (21.0%), MRC (6.5%), and age (1.4%). As for AQLQ, 42.2% of variance was explained by fatigue (29.8%), MRC (8.6%), exacerbation rate (2.6%), and age (1.2%). Severe fatigue is highly prevalent in asthmatic patients; it is an important determinant of disease-specific QoL and a crucial yet ignored patient-related outcome in patients with asthma.