Background/Purpose: Fatigue is a common symptom among adults with arthritis and can severely impact quality-of life. This study’s two objectives were to estimate the national prevalence of fatigue among US adults with and without arthritis and to describe differences in intensity, duration, sociodemographic and health-related characteristics in fatigue among adults with arthritis.

Methods:

The National Health Interview Survey is an ongoing survey of the civilian, non-institutionalized population designed to gather nationally representative data on a variety of health topics. We analyzed 2015 and 2016 Adult Functioning and Disability Supplement data (sample sizes = 16,939 and 16,478, respectively). Doctor-diagnosed arthritis was defined as a “yes” to: “Have you ever been told by a doctor or other health care professional that you have arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, lupus or fibromyalgia?” The case finding question for fatigue was “In the past 3 months, how often did you feel very tired or exhausted?” (never, some days, most days, every day). Any fatigue was defined as positive answer some days, most days, or every day. Among those reporting any fatigue, intensity responses were a little, a lot, somewhere in between to “How would you describe the level of tiredness?” and duration responses were some of the day, most of the day, all day to “How long did it last?”. Age-standardized prevalence (%) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated overall and by sociodemographic characteristics (age, sex, race/ethnicity, and education) and health-related characteristics (arthritis-attributable activity limitation (AAAL), self-rated health (excellent/very good, good, fair/poor), body mass index (BMI) (<25.0, 25.0-<30 and 30.0+), number of co-morbid conditions, and physical activity level (inactive, insufficient, active). Analyses accounted for the complex survey design.

Results:

Any fatigue was higher among adults with arthritis (80.4% CI 78.6–82.0) than without arthritis (60.8% CI 59.8–61.8; p<0.01). Adults with arthritis vs. no arthritis also reported significantly greater “fatigue on most days” (16.4%, CI=14.7-18.3 vs. 7.2%, CI=6.7-7.6) and “fatigue every day” (12.2%, CI=10.7-13.9 vs. 4.1%, CI=3.8-4.5). The highest prevalence of “fatigue every day” among adults with arthritis was observed for those with ≥3 co-morbid conditions (27.4%), reporting fair/poor health (25.9%) and being physically inactive (21.9%). “Fatigue every day” prevalence among adults with arthritis was significantly lower for those age 65+, college degree or higher, no AAAL, no co-morbid conditions, excellent/very good health, and physically active. Among adults with arthritis with any fatigue, 25.8% (CI=23.6-28.1) said their intensity was “a lot”; 24.1% (CI=21.9-26.5) reported a duration of “most of the day” and 12.4% (CI=10.7-14.4) “all of the day”.

Conclusion:

Among adults with arthritis about 4 in 5 report any fatigue, and among those 1 in four report intense (“a lot”) fatigue and 1 in 3 report a duration of most or all of the day. Because pain is an important component of fatigue, exercise and self-management education interventions that lower pain levels may also improve fatigue.

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/population-based-estimates-of-fatigue-prevalence-among-adults-aged-18-years-with-and-without-arthritis-united-states-2015-2016/