PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Ariane Barbacki
AU  - Michelle Petri
AU  - Antonio Aviña-Zubieta
AU  - Graciela S.  Alarcón
AU  - Sasha Bernatsky
TI  - Fatigue Measurements in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
AID  - 10.3899/jrheum.180831
DP  - 2019 Feb 01
TA  - The Journal of Rheumatology
PG  - jrheum.180831
4099  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2019/01/23/jrheum.180831.short
4100  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2019/01/23/jrheum.180831.full
AB  - Objective Fatigue is a frequent, disabling issue in SLE. It is, however, difficult to quantify. The Ad Hoc Committee on SLE Response Criteria for Fatigue in 2007 recommended using the Krupp Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS). Since then, the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (FACIT) Fatigue scale has also been validated in SLE. We performed a review of instruments used to measure fatigue in adult SLE patients from 2007 onward. Methods We searched PubMed, Medline and EMBase (Jan. 2008-Oct. 2017), identifying clinical trials and observational studies in adult SLE, where fatigue was a specifically measured outcome. All English and French studies were reviewed to determine fatigue measures, and results. Results 37 studies met inclusion criteria. Eight scales were used. The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), FSS, and FACIT Fatigue scale were most frequent. FSS was the most often used instrument in both clinical trials and observational studies. Twenty-five of the 37 studies demonstrated a difference in fatigue that was statistically significant and clinically meaningful. Of the 12 studies which did not, six used the FFS, three used the VAS, two used the Multidimensional Assessment of fatigue and one used the Brief Fatigue Index. All 6 studies using the FACIT Fatigue scale detected clinically meaningful and statistically significant differences. Conclusion VAS, FSS and FACIT Fatigue scale were the most frequently used instruments in adult SLE studies from 2008-2017. Many studies detected clinically important changes in fatigue. Fatigue remains a key measure in both clinical trials and observational SLE studies.