Poststroke Fatigue: Course and Its Relation to Personal and Stroke-Related Factors
Accepted 3 October 2005.
Abstract
Schepers VP, Visser-Meily AM, Ketelaar M, Lindeman E. Poststroke fatigue: course and its relation to personal and stroke-related factors.
Objectives
To describe the course of fatigue during the first year poststroke and to determine the relation between fatigue at 1 year poststroke and personal characteristics, stroke characteristics, and poststroke impairments.
Design
Inception cohort.
Setting
Rehabilitation center.
Participants
Patients (N=167) with a first-ever supratentorial stroke admitted for inpatient rehabilitation.
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measure
The Fatigue Severity Scale measured the presence and impact of fatigue at admittance for inpatient rehabilitation, as well as at 6 months and 1 year poststroke.
Results
At admission, 6 months and 1 year poststroke, fatigue was present in 51.5%, 64.1%, and 69.5% of the patients, respectively. Fatigue impact 1 year poststroke was greater among patients with more depressive symptoms, higher age, women, and patients with a locus of control more directed to powerful others.
Conclusions
Because fatigue impact is an increasing problem during the first year poststroke, it deserves more attention in clinical practice and scientific research. Locus of control and depression are related to poststroke fatigue and might be important foci for future interventions.
Center of Excellence for Rehabilitation Medicine Utrecht, Rehabilitation Center De Hoogstraat, Utrecht; and Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Reprint requests to Vera P. Schepers, MD, Center of Excellence for Rehabilitation Medicine Utrecht, Rehabilitation Center De Hoogstraat, Rembrandtkade 10, 3583 TM Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Supported by The Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (grant no. 1435.0001), as part of the Functional prognostication and disability study on neurological disorders (FuPro), supervised by the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine of the VU Medical Center, Amsterdam.
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit upon the authors or upon any organization with which the authors are associated.
ABSTRACT