Validation of the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy Fatigue Scale relative to other instrumentation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

This study validated a brief measure of fatigue in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (FACIT) Fatigue Scale. The FACIT Fatigue was tested along with measures previously validated in RA: the Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue (MAF) and Medical Outcomes...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of rheumatology Vol. 32; no. 5; p. 811
Main Authors Cella, David, Yount, Susan, Sorensen, Mark, Chartash, Elliot, Sengupta, Nishan, Grober, James
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Canada 01.05.2005
Subjects
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Arthritis, Rheumatoid - complications
Arthritis, Rheumatoid - physiopathology
Chronic Disease
Fatigue - etiology
Fatigue - physiopathology
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Psychometrics - standards
Reproducibility of Results
Severity of Illness Index
Surveys and Questionnaires - standards
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Summary:This study validated a brief measure of fatigue in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (FACIT) Fatigue Scale. The FACIT Fatigue was tested along with measures previously validated in RA: the Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue (MAF) and Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form 36 (SF-36) Vitality. The sample included 636 patients with RA enrolled in a 24 week double blind, randomized clinical trial (RCT) of adalimumab versus placebo. The FACIT Fatigue showed good internal consistency (alpha = 0.86 to 0.87), strong association with SF-36 Vitality (r = 0.73 to 0.84) and MAF (r = -0.84 to -0.88), and the ability to differentiate patients according to clinical change using the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) response criteria (ACR 20/50/70). Psychometric performance of the FACIT Fatigue scale was comparable to that of the other 2 fatigue measures. A minimally important difference in FACIT Fatigue change score of 3-4 points was confirmed in a separate sample of 271 patients with RA enrolled in a second double blind RCT of adalimumab versus placebo. The FACIT Fatigue is a brief, valid measure for monitoring this important symptom and its effects on patients with RA.
ISSN:0315-162X