Examining fatigue in COPD: development, validity and reliability of a modified version of FACIT-F scale.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION:

Fatigue is a disruptive symptom that inhibits normal functional performance of COPD patients in daily activities. The availability of a short, simple, reliable and valid scale would improve assessment of the characteristics and influence of fatigue in COPD.

METHODS:

At baseline, 2107 COPD patients from the ECLIPSE cohort completed the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy Fatigue (FACIT-F) scale. We used well-structured classic method, the principal components analysis (PCA) and Rasch analysis for structurally examining the 13-item FACIT-F.

RESULTS:

Four items were less able to capture fatigue characteristics in COPD and were deleted. PCA was applied to the remaining 9 items of the modified FACIT-F and resulted in three interpretable dimensions: i) general (5 items); ii) functional ability (2 items); and iii) psychosocial fatigue (2 items). The modified FACIT-F had high internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.91) and it did not fit a uni-dimensional Rasch model, confirming the prior output from the PCA. The correlations between total score and each dimension were ≥ 0.64 and within dimensions ≥0.43 (p < 0.001 for all).The original and modified FACIT-F had significant convergent validity; its scores were associated with SGRQ total score (0.69 and 0.7) and mMRC dyspnoea scores (0.48 and 0.47), (p = <0.001 for all). The scale had meaningful discriminating ability in identifying patients with poor exercise performance and more depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSION:

The original and modified FACIT-F are valid and reliable scales in COPD. The modified version is shorter and measures not only total fatigue but also its sub-components in COPD.

• Authors: Khaled Al-shair, Hana Muellerova, Janelle Yorke, Stephen I Rennard, Emiel F M Wouters, Nicola A Hanania, Amir Sharafkhaneh, Jørgen Vestbo, ECLIPSE investigators
• Journal: Health and quality of life outcomes (Health Qual Life Outcomes) Vol. 10 Pg. 100 (Aug 23 2012) ISSN: 1477-7525 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 22913289 (Publication Type: Comparative Study, Journal Article, Multicenter Study, Randomized Controlled Trial, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Bronchodilator Agents

Topics

• Activities of Daily Living
• Adult
• Aged
• Bronchodilator Agents
• Data Interpretation, Statistical
• Fatigue (diagnosis)
• Female
• Humans
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Multivariate Analysis
• Principal Component Analysis
• Psychometrics (instrumentation)
• Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive (complications, psychology, therapy)
• Quality of Life (psychology)
• Reproducibility of Results
• Severity of Illness Index
• Smoking (epidemiology, psychology)
• Surveys and Questionnaires (standards)
• Vital Capacity (physiology)