Abstract
Introduction: Fatigue is described as a core symptom of sarcoidosis. It can persist despite treating disease activity. Its effect on quality of life is less well understood.
Aims: To investigate the frequency of fatigue (measured by the Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS)) occurring in sarcoidosis patients, its affect on quality of life, and factors determining fatigue severity.
Methods: Questionnaires were administered to sarcoidosis patients attending our respiratory outpatients department. These included the FAS, EuroQoL 5D (EQ5D), Kings Brief Interstitial Lung Disease (K-BILD), St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS).
Results: Seventy-six patients completed questionnaires. Thirty-five patients (50.7%) reported high levels of fatigue (FAS score greater than 21). Mean FAS scores were 24.7 (maximum score 50). Increasing fatigue was associated with worse health-related quality of life scores (EQ5D, K-BILD and SGRQ) shown in table 1. No association was seen between fatigue and markers of disease severity (FEV1, FVC, transfer factor, CXR score, immunosuppression use, extrapulmonary disease) or age, but there was moderate correlation with dyspnoea (co-efficient 0.523, p<0.001).
Conclusions: Fatigue frequently occurs in sarcoidosis, affecting over half of patients. Increasing fatigue was associated with poorer quality of life scores. Measures of disease severity were not associated with fatigue, although dyspneoa did show positive correlation with this symptom.
- Copyright ©ERS 2015