Fatigue in relation to long-term participation outcome in aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage survivors.
Elisabeth Anne de Vries, Wendy Boerboom, Rita H J G van den Berg-Emons and 3 others
PMID 33604676WHAT IT FOUND
Four years after aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage, fatigue severity was independently linked to worse functional performance and perceived participation problems, even after adjusting for depression.
However, fatigue was not associated with community integration.
Key findings
01Fatigue severity was independently associated with worse functional performance and perceived problems in participation, after adjusting for depression and discharge to inpatient rehabilitation.
02Fatigue severity was not significantly associated with community integration; older age and higher depression scores were the independent predictors for worse community integration.
03Fatigued patients reported significantly more restrictions in functional performance, primarily in the psychosocial domain, compared to non-fatigued patients.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot determine whether fatigue causes poor participation or vice versa. The sample size was relatively small (59 patients), which limited the number of variables that could be included in the regression analyses. Depression was more common in the fatigued group, which may confound the relationship between fatigue and participation despite statistical adjustment. The study excluded patients with serious comorbidities or insufficient Dutch language mastery, limiting generalisability.
Declared interests
The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that treating fatigue will improve community integration or that fatigue is the sole cause of participation restrictions. The study found no association between fatigue and community integration, and the cross-sectional design cannot prove that fatigue causes worse participation outcomes.