title: Assessment of fatigue in rheumatoid arthritis (by Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue score) and its relation to disease activity and anemia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) mention fatigue as one of their most annoying problems. Measuring fatigue, understanding its contributory factors, and treating it as a feasible target lead to better patient outcome and improved quality of life. The Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (FACIT) Measurement System is a collection of health-related quality-of-life questionnaires targeted to the management of chronic illness.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study was to evaluate fatigue using FACIT-Fatigue (FACIT-F) score and its relation to disease activity (using Disease Activity Score [DAS28] and Clinical Disease Activity Index [CDAI] score) and anemia in RA patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 100 RA patients were evaluated for fatigue using FACIT-F score, for disease activity using DAS28 and CDAI scores, for anemia using hemoglobin levels. Correlation studies were done using Pearson test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue showed positive association with DAS28 (P < 0.001; r = -0.80) and CDAI (P < 0.001; r = -0.83). Considering various components of DAS28 and CDAI, FACIT-F showed significant correlation with tender joint count (P < 0.001; r = -0.73), swollen joint count (P < 0.001; r = -0.76), patient global assessment (P < 0.001; r = -0.72), and evaluator global assessment (P < 0.001; r = -0.75). Erythrocyte sedimentation rate had no association with the fatigue (P = 0.217). No association was observed between fatigue and hemoglobin levels (P = 0.203).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The fatigue experienced by the patients with RA is strongly associated with the severity of disease activity and is independent of anemia.
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of *Medicine and †Rheumatology, PGIMS, Rohtak, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Harpreet
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Suvrat
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arya
authors.forename: Paulomi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Talapatra
authors.forename: Kunal
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lather
authors.forename: Rekha
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mathur
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Singhania
authors.forename: Vikas
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Chaudhary
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000740:Anemia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D001799:Blood Sedimentation; D015897:Comorbidity; D005221:Fatigue / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D006454:Hemoglobins