EDITORIAL - Fatigue in patients with RA: what is known and what is needed

[Guest guest]

Fantastic article,

Thank you for sharing!

KD

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> Rheumatology Advance Access originally published online on October

16, 2008

> Rheumatology 2009 48(3):207-209; doi:10.1093/rheumatology/ken399

>

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> EDITORIALS

>

>

> Fatigue in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: what is known and

what is needed

>

>

> H. Repping-Wuts1, P. van Riel1 and T. van Achterberg2

> 1Department of Rheumatology and 2IQ Scientific Institute for Quality

> of Healthcare, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen,

> The Netherlands

>

>

> Concept and definition

>

> Fatigue is, just like pain, a subjective symptom which may occur in

> patients with many different diseases and thereby also in patients

> with RA. In the literature, a consensus definition for fatigue is not

> presented. However, most authors define fatigue as: 'an overwhelming,

> sustained sense of exhaustion and decreased capacity for physical and

> mental work' [1]. For chronic fatigue, Piper's definition is widely

> used in international studies and is as follows: 'chronic fatigue is

> perceived as unpleasant, unusual, abnormal or excessive whole-body

> tiredness, disproportionate to or unrelated to activity or exertion

> and present for more than one month. Chronic fatigue is constant or

> recurrent, it is not dispelled easily by sleep or rest and it can have

> a profound negative impact on the person's quality of life' [2]. To

> distinguish between chronic fatigue and the chronic fatigue syndrome

> (CFS), the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has

> formulated special criteria for CFS [3].

>

> In published studies, fatigue is mostly described as a multicausal,

> multidimensional and complex concept in which psychological,

> biochemical and physiological mechanisms play a role. As with pain,

> the definition is not the most important issue in clinical practice

> but the way fatigue can and should be assessed is, because quantifying

> fatigue enables us to study fatigue.

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> Read the full editorial here:

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> http://rheumatology.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/48/3/207?etoc

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> Not an MD

>