Examination of Factors Associated with Fatigue in COPD Patients

<bold>Introduction:</bold> Although pulmonary factors related to fatigue in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients were examined in the studies, the extrapulmonary factors associated with falling directly in these patients were not determined exactly. <bold>Aim:</bold> Our study aims to examine the factors associated with Fatigue in COPD Patients. <bold>Methods:</bold> Eighty patients diagnosed with COPD, aged 50-80 years (66.04 ± 8.14 years), were included in the study. The Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (FACIT) fatigue scale, St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and number of sleep interruptions were used for evaluating fatigue, quality of life, depression, and sleep quality respectively. <bold>Results:</bold> According to our results, the FACIT Fatigue Scale did not show any relationship with age, body mass index, diagnosis period, and night sleep duration (p>0.05). When the FACIT Fatigue Scale with associated factors was examined, it was found that the scale scores showed a moderate correlation with the number of sleep interruptions per night(r=-0.469, p<0.001), CES-D Depression Scale score(r=-0.545, p<0.001) and SGRQ score(r=-0.655, p< 0.001) and CAT disease status score(r=-0.628, p<0.001). <bold>Conclusion:</bold> Associaton factors with fatigue are adversely affected in a substantial proportion of COPD patients. Defining the associated factors with fatigue in COPD patients may be necessary for clinicians working in the field to detect problems that may occur in the future and for a preventive approach.