Article

Objectives: To explore in which contexts ratings of multiple dimensions of
fatigue are useful in fibromyalgia, and to compare multidimensional fatigue
between women with fibromyalgia and healthy women. Design: A cross-sectional
study. Subjects and methods: The Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20),
comprising 5 subscales of fatigue, was compared with the 1-dimensional subscale
of fatigue from the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) in 133 women with
fibromyalgia (mean age 46 years; standard deviation 8.6), in association with
socio-demographic and health-related aspects and analyses of explanatory
variables of severe fatigue. The patients were also compared with 158 healthy
women (mean age 45 years; standard deviation 9.1) for scores on MFI-20 and FIQ
fatigue. Results: The MFI-20 was associated with employment, physical activity
and walking capacity (rs = -0.27 to -0.36), while FIQ fatigue was not. MFI-20 and
FIQ fatigue were equally associated with pain, sleep, depression and anxiety (rs
= 0.32-0.63). Regression analyses showed that the MFI-20 increased the explained
variance (R2) for the models of pain intensity, sleep, depression and anxiety, by
between 7 and 29 percentage points, compared with if FIQ fatigue alone was
included in the models. Women with fibromyalgia rated their fatigue higher than
healthy women for all subscales of the MFI-20 and the FIQ fatigue (p < 0.001).
Conclusion: Dimensions of fatigue, assessed by the MFI-20, appear to be valuable
in studies of employment, pain intensity, sleep, distress and physical function
in women with fibromyalgia. The patients reported higher levels on all fatigue
dimensions in comparison with healthy women.

Langue : ANGLAIS