Fatigue interference with daily living among patients with inflammatory bowel disease

• Published in: Quality of life research Vol. 23; no. 2; pp. 709 - 719
• Main Authors: Opheim, Randi, Fagermoen, May Solveig, Bernklev, Tomm, Jelsness-Jorgensen, Lars-Petter, Moum, Bjorn
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer 01.03.2014; Springer International Publishing; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Activities of Daily Living; Adult; Aged; Alternative medicine; Chronic illnesses; Complementary Therapies; Crohn disease; Crohns disease; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dietary minerals; Dietary supplements; Fatigue; Fatigue - etiology; Fatigue - physiopathology; Fatigue - therapy; Female; Gastroenterology; Herbal medicine; Hospitals; Humans; Inflammatory bowel disease; Inflammatory bowel diseases; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - complications; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - physiopathology; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - therapy; Intestinal diseases; Logistic Models; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Outpatient care facilities; Pain; Patients; Population; Public Health; Quality of Life; Quality of Life Research; Quantitative psychology; Questionnaires; Self help; Sociodemographics; Sociology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Symptoms; Systemic lupus erythematosus; Ulcerative colitis; Young Adult; Inflammatory bowel disease; Fatigue; Complementary and alternative medicine; Ulcerative colitis; Crohn’s disease
• ISSN: 0962-9343; 1573-2649
• DOI: 10.1007/s11136-013-0508-4

Purpose The purpose of the study was to examine fatigue interference with daily living in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and to explore relationships between severe fatigue interference and socio-demographic and clinical variables, including use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Methods Data were collected using self-report questionnaires from adult IBD outpatients. Fatigue interference was assessed with the 5-item Fatigue Severity Scale, and scores ≥5 were defined as severe fatigue interference. CAM use was assessed with the International CAM Questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine associations between severe fatigue interference and socio-demographic factors, clinical factors, and CAM use. Results In total, 428 patients had evaluable questionnaires (response rate 93 %). Severe fatigue interference was reported by 39 % of the total sample. Patients with Crohn's disease (CD) (n = 238) were more likely than patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) (n = 190) to report severe fatigue interference (43 and 33 %, respectively, p = 0.003). In addition, patients reporting severe fatigue interference were more likely to have active disease than patients without severe fatigue interference (p < 0.001 for both diagnoses). Patients with inactive disease had scores comparable to the general population. Factors independently associated with severe fatigue interference in UC included disease activity and CAM use, while in CD they included disease activity and current smoking. Conclusions Severe fatigue interference is common among IBD patients with active disease. Among patients with UC, but not CD, CAM use was associated with severe fatigue interference. The relationship between fatigue interference and personal factors should be considered further in subsequent studies.