Psychiatry

33rd Annual Harvey Stancer Research Day

Fatigue Following Stroke: Refining the concept
P Giacobbe M Bayley GM Devins TD Bradley , AJ Flint, University of Toronto,University Health Network; Toronto Rehabilitation Institute

Objectives:

Fatigue following stroke is a common but poorly understood phenomenon. The goals of this research are to examine the extent to which post-stroke fatigue is: a) an independent entity, versus a symptom of the following concomitant conditions or disorders: depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, sleep disorders, medical burden, and functional disability; b) independent of physical fatigability.

Fatigue Following Stroke: Refining the concept

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Method: Cross-sectional study of persons with stroke, admitted to a stroke rehabilitation program. Measures of subjective fatigue, physical fatigability, functional disability, and medical burden were completed. The SCID was used to determine the frequency of depressive disorders and anxiety disorders. Overnight polysomnography was performed to determine the frequency of sleep disorders. When this study is completed, factor analysis will be used to address the study’s objectives. However, in this presentation of preliminary data, correlation coefficients were computed to examine the strength of association between subjective fatigue and objectively determined variables.

Results: Based on the first 11 patients recruited into this study, the Barrow Neurological Institute Fatigue Scale (BNI) was most strongly associated with functional disability, as measured by the Barthel Index (r = -0.68, p = 0.02). The BNI was modestly correlated with sleep disorders (r =-0.38, p= 0.35) and weakly correlated with depressive disorders (r = -0.06, p =0.88), anxiety disorders (r = 0.15, p = 0.61), medical burden (r= -0.08, p =0.81), and physical fatigability measured by the 6 Minute Walk Test (r= 0.11, p = 0.75).

Conclusion: These preliminary data suggest that post-stroke fatigue is not strongly associated with affective disorders, sleep disorders, or medical burden, and that it is not a manifestation of peripheral fatigability. The independent status of post-stroke fatigue will be examined in a larger sample of patients.

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