A comparison of fatigue measures in Parkinson's disease

Received 27 July 2006; accepted 1 September 2006.

Abstract

Fatigue is a common problem in Parkinson's disease (PD). The Parkinson's Fatigue Scale (PFS) designed for measurement of fatigue in PD has not been validated in the US. The objective of this study was to validate the PFS by comparing it to the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS). Fifty PD patients and 16 controls completed PFS, FSS and semi-structured interview. FSS and PFS were strongly correlated with one another and had high internal consistency, indicating that both are reliable scales. PD patients and healthy controls differed significantly on both measures. PD patients endorsed significantly more fatigue. The PFS is a reliable, valid fatigue measure.

Keywords: Fatigue, Parkinson's disease

a Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown Medical School, Providence, RI, USA

b Memorial Hospital of RI, Pawtucket, RI, USA

c Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

d Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Brown Medical School, Providence, RI, USA

e NeuroHealth, Warwick, RI, USA

Corresponding author. Memorial Hospital of RI, 111 Brewster St., Pawtucket, RI, USA. Tel.: +14017292326.

PII: S1353-8020(06)00222-7

doi:10.1016/j.parkreldis.2006.09.001

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