PURPOSE:<\/p>\n
Debilitating fatigue is a core symptom of myalgic encephalomyelitis\/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME\/CFS); however, the utility of patient-reported symptom outcome measures of fatigue for ME\/CFS patients is problematic due to ceiling effects and issues with reliability and validity. We sought to evaluate the performance of three patient-reported symptom measures in a sample of ME\/CFS patients and matched controls.<\/p>\n
METHODS:<\/p>\n
Two hundred and forty ME\/CFS patients and 88 age, sex, race, and zip code matched controls participated in the study. Participants completed the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory-20<\/a>, DePaul Symptom Questionnaire<\/a>, and RAND SF-36<\/a>.<\/p>\n RESULTS:<\/p>\n The general and physical fatigue subscales on Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory-20, as well as the role of physical health on the RAND SF-36, demonstrated questionable or unacceptable internal consistency and problematic ceiling effects. The DePaul Symptom Questionnaire demonstrated excellent internal reliability, and less than 5 % of participants were at the ceiling on each subscale. The post-exertional malaise subscale on the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire demonstrated excellent clinical utility as it was able to differentiate between ME\/CFS patients and controls (OR 1.23, p < .001) and predicted ceiling effects on other patient-reported outcome subscales. A score of 20 on the post-exertional malaise subscale of the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire optimally differentiated between patients and controls.<\/p>\n CONCLUSIONS:<\/p>\n Significant ceiling effects and concerns with reliability and validity were observed among Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory-20 and RAND SF-36 subscales for ME\/CFS patients. The DePaul Symptom Questionnaire addresses a number of concerns typically identified when using patient-reported outcome measures with ME\/CFS patients; however, an improved multidimensional patient-reported outcome tool for measuring ME\/CFS-related symptoms is warranted.<\/p>\n The utility of patient-reported outcome measures among patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis\/chronic fatigue syndrome<\/a> by KW Murdock, XS Wang, Q Shi, CS Cleeland, CP Fagundes, SD Vernon in<\/span> Qual Life Res<\/em>. 2016 Sep 6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Research abstract: PURPOSE: Debilitating fatigue is a core symptom of myalgic encephalomyelitis\/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME\/CFS); however, the utility of patient-reported symptom outcome measures of fatigue for ME\/CFS patients is problematic due to ceiling effects and issues with reliability and validity. … Continue reading