Study of fatigue frequency and its association with sociodemographic and clinical variables in patients with multiple sclerosis

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the frequency of fatigue and its association with demographic variables and disease specific variables in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients.

METHODS: In this study, 300 patients (72% female, 28% male) with clinically definite MS admitted to the outpatient MS clinic of Imam Reza Hospital, affiliated to Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran, were evaluated between November 2011 and September 2012. Their demographic and clinical characteristics were recorded on standardized forms. Fatigue was assessed using the fatigue severity scale.

RESULTS: The frequency of fatigue was 62.3%, the mean age of patients was 35.26+/-8.7 SD. The mean age of fatigued patients was 36.51+/-8.65 SD. Fatigue was found in 100% of progressive forms of disease, and 54.8% of relapsing-remitting MS patients.

CONCLUSION: Fatigue was a frequent sign in studied MS patients, and was associated with type of disease, interferon, gender, and duration of disease. There was no association between fatigue and age, education, and marital state. It is important to pay more attention to fatigue in MS patients, and use quantitative tools for its assessment.