title: High prevalence of fatigue in inflammatory bowel disease: A case control study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Many outpatients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) complain about fatigue, even in a quiescent disease. The aim of this study is to examine prevalence of fatigue in IBD outpatients and define possible determinants of fatigue.
  
  
  METHODS
  A case-control study was conducted in consecutive IBD outpatients, with Lynchsyndrome gene carriers (Lynch) as a control group. Demographics, laboratory results and Harvey Bradshaw Index (HBI) were obtained from medical records. Subjective fatigue was measured by the revised Piper Fatigue Scale (PFS). Mean PFS scores were compared between groups. Secondly, possible determinants of fatigue were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three hundred patients were enrolled. 74% returned the questionnaires (117 CD; 55 UC; and 50 Lynch). Demographics were not different between groups. Mean overall PFS is 4.03. PFS score in IBD patients was significantly higher compared to Lynch. Mean (SD) PFS score was 4.8 (2.09) for CD, 4.2 (2.3) for UC versus 1.9 (2.03) for Lynch (P<0.01). Fatigue was present in 40% of the IBD patients in remission. HBI was positively, but not significantly, correlated with PFS scores (r=0.37).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found a high prevalence of fatigue in IBD patients, compared to a control group, even in a quiescent disease. None of the studied determinants was significantly associated with fatigue.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Tessa E H
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Römkens
authors.forename: Maria W J
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: van Vugt-van Pinxteren
authors.forename: Fokko M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Nagengast
authors.forename: Martijn G H
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: van Oijen
authors.forename: Dirk J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: de Jong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D005221:Fatigue / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D057566:Self Report