title: Task-Specific Fatigue Among Older Primary Care Patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Fatigue is a common condition contributing to disability among older patients. We studied self-reported task-specific fatigue and its relation with mobility task performance among community-dwelling primary care patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional analysis of baseline demographic and health data from a prospective cohort study of 430 primary care patients aged 65 years or older. Fatigue was measured using the Avlund Mobility-Tiredness Scale. Performance tasks included rising from a chair, walking 4 m, and climbing two flights of stairs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among demographic and health factors, pain was the only attribute consistently predictive of fatigue status. Self-reported chair rise fatigue and walking fatigue were associated with specific task performance. Stair climb fatigue was not associated with stair climb time.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pain is strongly associated with fatigue while rising from a chair, walking indoors, and climbing stairs. This study supports the validity of self-reported chair rise fatigue and walking fatigue as individual test items.
authors.affiliation: 1 Harvard Medical School, Brookline, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Perrin E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Romine
authors.affiliation: 2 Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Dan K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Kiely
authors.affiliation: 3 Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Holt
authors.affiliation: 3 Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA.
authors.forename: Sanja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Percac-Lima
authors.affiliation: 1 Harvard Medical School, Brookline, MA, USA.|4 University of Massachusetts Boston, USA.|5 Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Leveille
authors.affiliation: 1 Harvard Medical School, Brookline, MA, USA.|2 Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Cambridge, MA, USA.|6 New England Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center, Jamaica Plains, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Bean
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001900:Boston; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005221:Fatigue; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011446:Prospective Studies; D057566:Self Report; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology
keywords: aged; fatigue; mobility; task performance