Dataset Information

Fatigue among children with a chronic disease: a cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To determine: (1) which biological/lifestyle, psychological and/or social factors are associated with fatigue among children with a chronic disease and (2) how much each of these factors contributes to explaining variance in fatigue.

Design and setting

This was a cross-sectional study across two children's hospitals.

Patients

We included children aged 8-18?years who visited the outpatient clinic with cystic fibrosis, an autoimmune disease or postcancer treatment.

Main outcome measures

Fatigue was assessed using the PedsQL Multidimensional Fatigue Scale. Generic biological/lifestyle, psychological and social factors were assessed using clinical assessment tools and questionnaires. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to test the associations between these factors and fatigue. Finally, a multivariable regression model was used to determine which factor(s) have the strongest effect on fatigue.

Results

A total of 434 out of 902 children were included (48% participation rate), with a median age of 14.5?years; 42% were male. Among these 434 children, 21.8% were severely fatigued. Together, all biopsychosocial factors explained 74.6% of the variance in fatigue. More fatigue was uniquely associated with poorer physical functioning, more depressive symptoms, more pressure at school, poorer social functioning and older age.

Conclusions

Fatigue among children with a chronic disease is multidimensional. Multiple generic biological/lifestyle, psychological and social factors were strongly associated with fatigue, explaining 58.4%; 65.8% and 50.0% of the variance in fatigue, respectively. Altogether, almost three-quarters of the variance in fatigue was explained by this biopsychosocial model. Thus, when assessing and treating fatigue, a transdiagnostic approach is preferred, taking into account biological, psychological and social factors.

SUBMITTER: Nap-van der Vlist MM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7893660 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Fatigue among children with a chronic disease: a cross-sectional study.

Nap-van der Vlist Merel M MM Dalmeijer Geertje W GW Grootenhuis Martha A MA van der Ent Kors K van den Heuvel-Eibrink Marry M MM Swart Joost F JF van de Putte Elise M EM Nijhof Sanne L SL

BMJ paediatrics open 20210217 1

<h4>Objective</h4>To determine: (1) which biological/lifestyle, psychological and/or social factors are associated with fatigue among children with a chronic disease and (2) how much each of these factors contributes to explaining variance in fatigue.<h4>Design and setting</h4>This was a cross-sectional study across two children's hospitals.<h4>Patients</h4>We included children aged 8-18 years who visited the outpatient clinic with cystic fibrosis, an autoimmune disease or postcancer treatment.< ...[more]

PMID: 33665374

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Project description:AimTo study health related quality of life (HRQOL) and depressive symptoms in adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and to investigate in which domains their HRQOL and depressive symptoms differ from those of healthy adolescents.Background and objectiveSeveral symptoms such as disabling fatigue, pain and depressive symptoms affect different life domains of adolescents with CFS. Compared to adolescents with other chronic diseases, young people with CFS are reported to be severely impaired, both physiologically and mentally. Despite this, few have investigated the HRQOL in this group.MethodThis is a cross-sectional study on HRQOL including 120 adolescents with CFS and 39 healthy controls (HC), between 12 and 18 years. The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™, 4.0 (PedsQL) was used to assess HRQOL. The Mood and Feelings Questionnaire assessed depressive symptoms. Data were collected between March 2010 and October 2012 as part of the NorCAPITAL project (Norwegian Study of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Adolescents: Pathophysiology and Intervention Trial). Linear and logistic regression models were used in analysis, and all tests were two-sided.ResultsAdolescents with CFS reported significantly lower overall HRQOL compared to HCs. When controlling for gender differences, CFS patients scored 44 points lower overall HRQOL on a scale from 0-100 compared to HCs. The domains with the largest differences were interference with physical health (B = -59, 95 % CI -54 to -65) and school functioning (B = -52, 95 % CI -45 to -58). Both depressive symptoms and being a patient were independently associated with lower levels of HRQOL CONCLUSION: The difference in HRQOL between CFS patients and healthy adolescents was even larger than we expected. The large sample of adolescents with CFS in our study confirms previous findings from smaller studies, and emphasizes that CFS is a seriously disabling condition that has a strong impact on their HRQOL. Even though depressive symptoms were found in the group of patients, they could not statistically explain the poor HRQOL.

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Dataset Information

Fatigue among children with a chronic disease: a cross-sectional study.

Objective

Design and setting

Patients

Main outcome measures

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Fatigue among children with a chronic disease: a cross-sectional study.

Similar Datasets

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