Study of Fatigue in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

류마티스 관절염환자의 피로에 대한 조사

The aim of this study is to describe degree of fatigue and factors related to fatigue in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The subjects of the study consist of one hundred fifty-eight outpatients with rheumatoid arthritis at three university hospitals in Taegu between July 10 and August 30, 1999. The instrument used in this study was the Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue developed by Belza et al.(1995) and revised by Jung, Bok Hee. Kim, Myung Ae(1998). Analysis of data was done by using the descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA and Duncan with SPSS program. The major findings can be summarized as follows: 1. Degree of fatigue in patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis was shown the average 22.91 out of the total scores 40. Four subscales of fatigue scores are common fatigue degree 6.37, fatigue timing at the last week 5.92, distress due to fatigue 5.40 and degree of daily activity fatigue 5.22. Among the realms of daily activity fatigue, outdoor activity(6.00), sexual life(5.84), doing the household(5.66), shopping(5.61), other exercise except stroll(5.54) were shown the high degree of fatigue and cooking(4.97), a stroll(4.48), recreation(4.35) showed the low degree of fatigue. 2. There were no significant differences on the total degree of fatigue according to demographic variables. But there were some significant differences on the subscale fatigue scores according to demographic variables. Degree of daily activity fatigue according to sex was shown significant difference (t=-2.358, p=.020), and according to education level was shown significant difference(F=3.938, p=.005) and common fatigue degree according to age was shown significant difference(F=2.853, p=.026). Conclusively fatigue is one of difficult problems for patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Therefore it is necessary to develop some nursing intervention for reducing fatigue of rheumatoid arthritis patients.