Fatigue with rheumatoid arthritis tied to disease activity, education level

The Bristol Rheumatoid Arthritis Fatigue Multi-Dimensional Questionnaire (BRAF-MDQ) and Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI-C) scores show consistency in assessing fatigue with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), according to a study published online June 14 in Immunity, Inflammation and Disease.

Jun Zhou, from the Affiliated Suqian First People’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University in China, and colleagues assessed fatigue with RA by two scales and validated their consistency. The analysis included 160 patients with RA and 60 healthy controls.

The researchers found that the BRAF-MDQ and BFI-C scores were significantly elevated in RA patients versus healthy controls. There was a positive and significant correlation between BRAF-MDQ global fatigue score and BFI-C global fatigue score in both RA patients (r = 0.669) and healthy controls (r = 0.527). There was a high consistency between BRAF-MDQ and BFI-C global fatigue scores in RA patients (W = 0.759) and healthy controls (W = 0.933) using the Kendall’s tau-b test. Higher education level (В = −4.547) and swollen joint count (В = 1.965) independently were associated with BRAF-MDQ global fatigue score. Higher education level (В = −0.613) and clinical disease activity index (В = 0.053) independently linked with BFI-C global fatigue score.

“Exploring the risk factors of fatigue for early management is of great significance for the treatment of RA patients,” the authors write.

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