title: Assessment of fatigue in cancer patients and community dwellers: validation study of the Filipino version of the brief fatigue inventory.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Clinical trials that might identify effective therapies for cancer-related fatigue, one of the most distressing symptoms experienced by patients, require a validated fatigue assessment tool. We developed and validated a Filipino language version of the Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI-F) for describing the prevalence and severity of fatigue among Filipino patients with cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a cross-sectional study in Manila, Philippines, in 206 patients with cancer and 170 age-matched community-dwelling adults who had never had a diagnosis of cancer. Validity and reliability were evaluated by principal factor analysis and Cronbach's α coefficients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Factor analysis extracted 1 factor, i.e. fatigue severity, with a Cronbach's α of 0.95; this is consistent with the original BFI English version validation study. Approximately 49% of the patients with cancer had mild fatigue, 34% had moderate fatigue, and 17% had severe fatigue. Patients with a poorer performance status had significantly worse fatigue than patients with a better performance status (5.0 ± 2.8 vs. 3.8 ± 2.2; p < 0.05). Compared with community adults, the patients with cancer reported significantly higher levels of fatigue.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The BFI-F had satisfactory internal consistency and validity, and it was able to measure the severity of fatigue and its influence on Filipino cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Symptom Research, Division of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Tex 77030, USA. tmendoza@mdanderson.org
authors.forename: Tito R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Mendoza
authors.forename: Adriano V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Laudico
authors.forename: Xin Shelley
authors.initials: XS
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Maria Lourdes
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Matsuda
authors.forename: Victor D
authors.initials: VD
authors.lastname: Yosuico
authors.forename: Edilberto P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Fragante
authors.forename: Charles S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Cleeland
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005221:Fatigue / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications*; D010679:Philippines; D015995:Prevalence; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014177:Translations