Skip to main content
eScholarship
Open Access Publications from the University of California

UCSF

UC San Francisco Electronic Theses and Dissertations bannerUCSF

Patterns of Fatigue in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Abstract

Purpose:To describe the patterns of fatigue and the symptom/well being and physical/physiological correlates of fatigue over one year in patients with COPD.

Patients and Methods:Secondary analysis of data from a prospective, randomized, single-blind study to evaluate the effect of three different doses of supervised exercise in a dyspnea self -management program in patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (N = 103; age 66 ± 8, females 57; FEV1 44.8% ± 14% predicted).

Results:Mean fatigue was stable at the measurement times during the course of the study. Four patterns of fatigue were identified "stable" (n=29), "improving/stable" (n=28), "worsening/stable" (n=18) and "labile" (n=4). Fatigue was moderately correlated with dyspnea, depressive and anxious symptoms, and reduced quality of life. Fatigue was mildly correlated with reduced exercise performance.

Conclusions:Mean fatigue is not a sufficient measure of fatigue over time in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Subgroup analysis may be necessary to understand fatigue in this population.

Main Content
For improved accessibility of PDF content, download the file to your device.
Current View