A.A. Novik, T.I. Ionova, C.S. Cleeland, X.S. Wang, T.R. Mendoza, T.G. Shemerovskaya, D.A. Fedorenko, A.V. Kishtovich

The use of the Brief Fatigue Inventory in systemic rheumatic patients

The purpose of this study was to assess psychometric properties of the Brief Fatigue Inventory in patients with systemic rheumatological conditions.
164 patients with systemic rheumatological diseases (systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic scleroderma, mixed connective tissue diseases, dermatomyositis) were enrolled into the study. BFI, SF-36 questionnaires and numeric assessment scale were administered at the admission to hospital at acute disease phase.
BFI questionnaire showed good psychometric properties. Reliability (internal consistency) assessed by Cronbach alpha coefficients was more than 0.9 for scales of fatigue severity and scales of fatigue interference with different aspects of patient's life. Construct validity was assessed by factor analysis; one factor composed of three fatigue severity scales and six interference scales was extracted. "Known-groups" validity showed that patients with poor health performance status had a pronounced fatigue.
In conclusion, Russian version of Brief Fatigue Inventory is a reliable and valid instrument for fatigue assessment in patients with systemic rheumatological diseases.