Unraveling the interplay between daily life fatigue and physical activity after subarachnoid hemorrhage: an ecological momentary assessment and accelerometry study.
Elisabeth A de Vries, Majanka H Heijenbrok-Kal, Fop van Kooten and 4 others
PMID 37752550WHAT IT FOUND
After subarachnoid hemorrhage, fatigue and movement tracked each other in daily life.
When participants moved more than usual, fatigue rose soon after; when fatigue rose, they moved less soon after. These are daily associations, not tested treatment effects.
Key findings
01In the 45 minutes before a fatigue prompt, more physical activity than usual was associated with higher fatigue soon after.
02In the 45 minutes after a fatigue prompt, higher than usual fatigue was associated with less physical activity.
03The strength of the fatigue and physical activity links differed among participants.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Only people living at home 3 to 12 months after subarachnoid hemorrhage and already reporting fatigue were included, so it does not describe people who are not yet at home, are earlier after hemorrhage, or do not report fatigue. Of 42 participants, 38 were analysed; one person had too little diary data and three had missing or unusable accelerometer data. The study observed associations within 45-minute windows and did not test an intervention, so it cannot show that changing activity or fatigue would change the other. Activity before and after fatigue prompts was low, with mean 15.41 minutes before and 14.96 minutes after a prompt in 45 minutes, so longer or more intense activity bouts were not captured. Participants were not prompted based on activity, and the social or task context of activity was not measured, so the setting of activity may matter. Overall momentary fatigue was lower than trait fatigue, so people with very high momentary fatigue in daily life may be underrepresented.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that physical activity caused fatigue or that limiting activity will reduce fatigue. The study only observed associations between momentary fatigue and activity in daily life and did not test a treatment.