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Fatigue and contributing factors in Chinese patients with ankylosing spondylitis

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Abstract

Objectives

Fatigue is a common symptom in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). However, fatigue of AS patients has not been well elucidated in China. This study aimed to evaluate the predictors of fatigue and the effects of fatigue on health-related quality of life among patients with AS.

Method

A total of 150 AS patients were involved in the study. A series of questionnaires included the following: Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI), Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Metrology Index (BASMI), Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI), the 10-cm Visual Analog Scale (VAS), the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (HAQ-DI), the Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36), and the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS). Independent samples t test, Mann-Whitney U test, chi-square analysis, Pearson/Spearman correlation, and binary logistic regression were used to analyze the data.

Results

The results demonstrated that 48.7% individuals with AS suffered from fatigue. Binary logistic regression indicated that waist-to-hip ratio, BASDAI, and sleep disturbance were independent predictors of fatigue in AS patients. Meanwhile, severe fatigue led to lower quality of life.

Conclusion

These findings suggested that medical personnel should pay more attention to AS patients with fatigue and take effective measures to relieve fatigue.

Key Points

• Incidence of fatigue in AS patients is 48.7% according to this cross-sectional study.

• The occurrence of fatigue was associated with higher WHR, higher BASDAI, and sleep disturbance.

• We also found that the occurrence of fatigue significantly reduced the quality of life in AS patients both physically and psychologically.

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Acknowledgments

The authors want to thank Jing Li, Yuanyuan Chen, Jiefu Liu, Rui Zhao, Yilin Wang, Xingyu Ge, and Junling Yang for their assistance with this paper.

Funding

This work was supported by the Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (grant number KYCX19_2071 and KYCX19_2078), National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 81671616 and 81871278) and Science and technology Project of Nantong City (grant number MS12017002-4, MS12017001-3 and MSZ18217).

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Author notes

  1. Wei Zhou, Jiaxin Guo and Mei He contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nursing, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, 20th Xisi Road, Nantong, 226001, China

    Wei Zhou, Jiaxin Guo, Mei He, Rui Zhao & Yilin Wang

  2. Department of Rheumatology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, 20th Xisi Road, Nantong, 226001, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Jing Li, Yuanyuan Chen & Zhifeng Gu

  3. Research Center of Clinical Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, 20th Xisi Road, Nantong, 226001, People’s Republic of China

    Jiefu Liu, Xingyu Ge, Junling Yang & Chen Dong

Authors
  1. Wei Zhou
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  2. Jiaxin Guo
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  3. Mei He
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  4. Jing Li
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  11. Zhifeng Gu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Zhifeng Gu or Chen Dong.

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All participants obtained informed consent in the study. This cross-sectional study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University (2017-K003).

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Zhou, W., Guo, J., He, M. et al. Fatigue and contributing factors in Chinese patients with ankylosing spondylitis. Clin Rheumatol 39, 2337–2344 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-020-04976-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-020-04976-x

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