RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Importance of fatigue measurement in sarcoidosis patients JF European Respiratory Journal JO Eur Respir J FD European Respiratory Society SP p3602 VO 38 IS Suppl 55 A1 Branislav Gvozdenovic A1 Violeta Vucinic-Mihailovic A1 Jelena Marinkovic YR 2011 UL http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p3602.abstract AB Fatigue is recognized as one of the most prominent symptom in sarcoidosis patients. In the cross-sectional study in 189 biopsy proven sarcoidosis patients (138 female) with average disease duration of 14±8 years, we evaluated the relationship between the fatigue severity and their health status and pulmonary function tests.Fatigue was measured by standardized Fatigue Scale, which contains 14 items, with four response options (the higher the score, the more severe fatigue). Scale distinguishes mental fatigue, physical fatigue, and it is also possible to calculate a total fatigue score. Two health status questionnaires were administered: respiratory specific – the St Georges Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) and generic – the 15D. Total SGRQ and 15D scores, as well as the scores for individual domains of SGRQ, were calculated for each patient. The pulmonary function was determined by means of spirometry and body-plethysmography.Pearson's coefficient of linear correlation revealed a statistically highly significant correlation (p<0.001) between all of the fatigue scores and all of the health status scores evaluated. The highest degree of correlation with total fatigue score was found for the 15D (r=–0.689) and total SGRQ (r=0.600) scores. However, the degree of correlations between fatigue scores and pulmonary function parameters were low, with highest correlations noticed for FVC(L) and FEV1(L).We can conclude that fatigue should be measured in sarcoidosis, since it isn't possible to assess its severity according to the objective disease outcomes, like pulmonary function tests. The health status and fatigue are two similar, but different aspects of sarcoidosis. All applied instruments demonstrated good measurement properties.