Fatigue prevalent and persistent even in early RA

Key clinical point: Fatigue was prevalent and persistent in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with female gender, poor mental health, pain, and some functional abilities associated with greater fatigue.

Major finding: The age- and sex-standardized prevalence of fatigue and severe fatigue was 44% (95% CI 39%-50%) and 19% (95% CI 15%-23%), respectively, with little change observed over 3 years (ß −0.13; 95% CI −0.23 to −0.02). Female gender, worse pain, mental health, and functional ability were significantly associated with greater fatigue (P ≤ .05).

Study details: This was a multicenter cohort study involving 729 patients with RA with symptom duration of <2 years.

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Disclosures: This work was funded by the Versus Arthritis Pain Centre. DF McWilliams and DA Walsh reported receiving funding and consultancy fees from various sources.

Source: Ifesemen OS et al. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2021;keab861 (Dec 27). Doi:  10.1093/rheumatology/keab947.