Disclosures: Amanda T. Wise, DO: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest
Objective: Fatigue is a common complaint in lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), a rare, cystic lung disease that primarily affects young women. A recent report indicates lower physical activity levels in LAM compared to COPD and healthy populations. This study seeks to characterize fatigue in LAM and examine how it relates to quality of life (QoL), activity levels, and dyspnea.
Design: Cross-Sectional Survey Setting : Research lab Participants : 10 females with LAM, ages 37-57 years old
Interventions: N/A
Main Outcome Measures: A 20-item Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20); Situational Fatigue Scale (SFS); A Tool to Assess QoL in Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (ATAQ-LAM) with dyspnea, cough, fatigue, and emotional subscales; and Visual Analog Scales (VAS) for fatigue, QoL, and dyspnea.
Results: For the MFI-20, in the categories of general fatigue, physical fatigue, mental fatigue, and reduced activity, mean+SE scores were 12.8+1.2, 11.9+0.9, 9.8+1.7, and 8.9+1.5, respectively, which are up to 47% higher than published gender-matched normative data. For the SFS, patients scored 12.1+1.5 in physical fatigue and 8.9+2.8 in mental fatigue, which was 120% and 17% higher, respectively, than the published normative data. QoL on VAS was inversely related to fatigue as assessed by the MFI-20 (general fatigue, r= -0.67, p < 0.05), ATAQ-LAM (fatigue, r= -0.72, p < 0.05) and VAS fatigue (r= -0.72, p < 0.05); and also to reduced activity (r= -0.87, p < 0.01), and reduced motivation (r= -0.80, p < 0.01) as scored by the MFI-20. On the ATAQ-LAM, fatigue was related to dyspnea (r= 0.71, p < 0.05), and also to reduced activity on the MFI-20 (r= 0.88, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Women with LAM experience greater fatigue than healthy individuals and it is associated with poorer quality of life, reduced activity, and greater dyspnea. Future research should investigate mechanisms of fatigue in LAM and potential interventions to ameliorate negative impact on patients’ quality of life.
Level of Evidence: Level IV
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Wise AT, Lin C, Kelly ML, Brown MB. Fatigue in Women with Lymphangioleiomyomatosis [abstract]. PM R. 2020; 12(S1)(suppl 1). https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/fatigue-in-women-with-lymphangioleiomyomatosis/. Accessed May 31, 2025.« Back to AAPM&R Annual Assembly 2020
PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/fatigue-in-women-with-lymphangioleiomyomatosis/