Session Information
Date: Monday, October 22, 2018
Title: Patient Outcomes, Preferences, and Attitudes Poster I: Patient-Reported Outcomes
Session Type: ACR Poster Session B
Session Time: 9:00AM-11:00AM
Background/Purpose:
Fatigue is a common symptom in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) as well as patients with cancer. Fatigue considerably reduces the quality of life of patients. The present project investigated the prevalence of fatigue in RA patients as compared to cancer patients.
Methods:
The RA study was based on a survey involving a representative, nationwide sample of German physicians specialized in RA and their patients [1]. The patient questionnaire included the EORTC measure of fatigue. Data of cancer patients were taken from the international psychometric validation study of the EORTC quality of life module measuring cancer related fatigue (EORTC QLQ-FA12). Thus, both studies used the same fatigue assessment, allowing for comparative analyses. The EORTC questionnaire assesses five components of fatigue: physical, emotional, cognitive, interference with daily life, and social sequelae. All scores are presented on a linear scale ranging from 0 to 100, with higher scores representing higher symptom burden.
Results:
Data of 708 RA patients (Mean DAS28 2,77, SD 1,20, mean HAQ 0,75 SD 0,70) and 944 cancer patients were available for analysis. Based on clinical considerations with regard to the degree of fatigue, the cohort of cancer patients was divided into four groups: curative therapy (active treatment), palliative treatment, 3 year survivor, 5 years survivor.
|
N = 1652 |
Rheumatoid arthritis |
Group A curative therapy |
Group B palliative therapy |
Group C 3 years survivors |
Group D 5 years survivors |
|||||||||||||||
|
n = 708 |
n = 311 |
n = 222 |
n = 212 |
n = 199 |
||||||||||||||||
|
M |
M |
M |
M |
M |
||||||||||||||||
|
Age |
59.5 |
59.5 |
61.5 |
57.6 |
58.3 |
|||||||||||||||
|
n |
% |
n |
% |
n |
% |
n |
% |
n |
% |
|||||||||||
| Gender | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
male |
193 |
27.3 |
154 |
49.5 |
104 |
46.8 |
87 |
41.0 |
89 |
44.7 |
||||||||||
|
female |
514 |
72.3 |
157 |
50.5 |
118 |
53.2 |
125 |
59.0 |
110 |
55.3 |
||||||||||
|
M |
95% CI |
M |
95% CI |
M |
95% CI |
M |
95% CI |
M |
95% CI |
|||||||||||
|
FA 1 |
44.4 |
42.3 |
46.5 |
34.5 |
31.4 |
37.6 |
45.9 |
42.5 |
49.3 |
33.9 |
30.4 |
37.4 |
30.7 |
26.9 |
34.4 |
|||||
|
FA 2 |
26.6 |
24.5 |
28.7 |
26.0 |
23.0 |
29.0 |
36.7 |
32.7 |
40.8 |
21.6 |
18.0 |
25.1 |
19.6 |
16.0 |
23.1 |
|||||
|
FA 3 |
11.0 |
9.5 |
12.4 |
11.5 |
9.3 |
13.8 |
17.0 |
14.0 |
20.1 |
13.9 |
10.8 |
17.0 |
12.9 |
9.9 |
15.9 |
|||||
|
FA 4 |
35.3 |
32.9 |
37.7 |
34.6 |
30.9 |
28.4 |
51.4 |
47.0 |
55.8 |
32.4 |
28.4 |
36.4 |
30.5 |
26.1 |
34.8 |
|||||
|
FA 5 |
20.2 |
17.9 |
22.6 |
9.8 |
7.5 |
12.1 |
10.8 |
7.6 |
13.9 |
15.2 |
11.6 |
18.7 |
13.5 |
9.8 |
17.1 |
|||||
FA 1 = physical Fatigue, FA 2 = emotional Fatigue, FA 3 = cognitive Fatigue, FA 4 = interference with daily life, FA 5 = social sequelae. High values in fatigue scores represent high symptom burden.
As shown in Table 1, RA patients suffered from a high level of physical fatigue (M = 44.4; CI 95% 42.3 – 46.5) that was almost identical to the value obtained in palliative care cancer patients. Furthermore, RA patients reported high burden with regard to social consequences (M = 20.2; CI 95% 17.9 – 22.6), more so than all groups of cancer patients (Ms ranging from 9.8 to 15.2). Multiple regression analyses indicated that sex and patient group were significant predictors of all five components of fatigue.
Conclusion:
This study showed that RA patients suffer from a considerable level of fatigue that is comparable to cancer patients.
[1] Kuipers et al.: Adherence and health literacy as related to outcome of patients treated for rheumatoid arthritis. Z Rheumatol. 2018 Apr 24. doi: 10.1007/s00393-018-0449-y.)
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Kuipers JG, Koller M, Rueffer U, Zeman F, Mueller K, Weis J. Fatigue in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis As Compared to Different Groups of Cancer Patients [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2018; 70 (suppl 9). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/fatigue-in-patients-with-rheumatoid-arthritis-as-compared-to-different-groups-of-cancer-patients/. Accessed .« Back to 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting
ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/fatigue-in-patients-with-rheumatoid-arthritis-as-compared-to-different-groups-of-cancer-patients/