Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Sep 15;61(9):1179-86.
doi: 10.1002/art.24649.

Disease activity and damage are not associated with increased levels of fatigue in systemic lupus erythematosus patients from a multiethnic cohort: LXVII

Paula I Burgos  1 , Graciela S Alarcón, Gerald McGwin Jr, Kendra Q Crews, John D Reveille, Luis M Vilá
Affiliations

Disease activity and damage are not associated with increased levels of fatigue in systemic lupus erythematosus patients from a multiethnic cohort: LXVII

Paula I Burgos et al. Arthritis Rheum. .

Abstract

Objective: To determine the factors associated with increased levels of fatigue over the course of the disease in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients from LUpus in MInorities: NAture versus nurture, a longitudinal multiethnic cohort.

Methods: Patients with SLE (according to the American College of Rheumatology revised and updated criteria) age >/=16 years with a disease duration </=5 years at entry into the cohort, and of Hispanic (Texan or Puerto Rican), African American, or Caucasian ethnicity were studied. The association between socioeconomic/demographic characteristics, health behaviors, behavioral and psychological, functional and clinical characteristics, and fatigue was examined using generalized estimating equations to account for the longitudinal nature of the data.

Results: A total of 515 patients ( approximately 91% female) contributed 2,609 visits to these analyses. Of these patients, 93 (18.1%) were Texan-Hispanic, 101 (19.6%) were Puerto Rican-Hispanic, 169 (32.8%) were African Americans, and 152 (29.5%) were Caucasian. The mean +/- SD patient age and followup time were 37.2 +/- 12.6 years and 4.7 +/- 3.2 years, respectively. Variables associated with increased levels of fatigue in the multivariable analyses were Caucasian ethnicity, the presence of constitutional symptoms (fever, weight loss), and higher levels of pain, abnormal illness-related behaviors, and helplessness (P values between 0.0018 and <0.0001).

Conclusion: The presence of pain, abnormal illness-related behaviors, helplessness, and constitutional manifestations were associated with increased levels of fatigue. However, SLE-specific measures, such as disease activity and damage, were not. Interventions aimed at decreasing fatigue need to take into account these findings.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of the mean Fatigue Severity Scale scores as a function of ethnic group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Wysenbeek AJ, Leibovici L, Weinberger A, Guedj D. Fatigue in systemic lupus erythematosus. Prevalence and relation to disease expression. Br J Rheumatol. 1993;32:633–635. - PubMed
    1. Krupp LB, LaRocca NG, Muir J, Steinberg AD. A study of fatigue in systemic lupus erythematosus. J Rheumatol. 1990;17:1450–1452. - PubMed
    1. McKinley PS, Ouellette SC, Winkel GH. The contributions of disease activity, sleep patterns, and depression to fatigue in systemic lupus erythematosus. A proposed model. Arthritis Rheum. 1995;38:826–834. - PubMed
    1. Hastings C, Joyce K, Yarboro CH, Berkebile C, Yocum D. Factors affecting fatigue in systemic lupus erythematosus. Arthritis Rheum. 1986;29:S176. - PubMed
    1. Petri M. Clinical features of systemic lupus erythematosus. Curr Opin Rheumatol. 1995;7:395–401. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms