Fatigue

Purpose: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–related fatigue (HRF) is multicausal and potentially related to mitochondrial dysfunction caused by antiretroviral therapy with nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs).

Objective assessment in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-related fatigue has been elusive because the biological mechanisms are not well characterized. We tried to identify low-abundance plasma proteins that correlate with self-reported fatigue intensity in people living with HIV. We used plasma samples from 32 patients with HIV with varying degrees of fatigue who were either treated with nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors or treatment naïve. The plasma samples were enriched for low-abundance proteins and trypsinized. The peptides were analyzed using shotgun proteomics.

HIV-related fatigue continues to be the most common complaint of infected people. No physiological factors have been consistent predictors for fatigue; psychosocial factors, particularly depression, have emerged more consistently in studies. While clinicians would want to rule out common causes of fatigue such as hypothyroidism, hypogonadism, or anemia, there is scant research for most interventions, which makes it difficult to make definitive recommendations for their use.

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine potential predictors of cancer-related fatigue (CRF) before, during, and after adjuvant therapy in women with breast cancer. A convenience sample of 44 women postsurgery (M = 18) aged 38 to 77 years (M = 52) were recruited from a Southern breast clinic.

The purpose of this study was to identify whether severe postpartum fatigue at 1 and 3 months postpartum was associated with depressive symptomatology at 6 months in lower-income urban women. A convenience sample of 43 lower-income postpartum women completed the Modified Fatigue Symptoms Checklist and Edinburgh Postpartum Depression scale at 1, 3, and 6 months postpartum. Participants who were severely fatigued at both 1 and 3 months postpartum were significantly more likely to exhibit depressive symptomatology at 6 months.

HIV-related fatigue is a debilitating and disabling symptom that persists for months and years. In 743 HIV/AIDS patients from Southern Africa, the authors found ratings of HIV-related fatigue to be highly prevalent. The authors conducted a secondary data analysis within the theoretical context of the University of California, San Francisco Symptom Management Model.

Fatigue and depression are among the most frequently rated symptoms of people with HIV/AIDS. This study aimed: (1) to describe severity of fatigue and depression in an outpatient sample (n=372) of men and women with HIV/AIDS, (2) to evaluate sensitivity and discriminant validity for two fatigue and three depression scales and (3) to investigate whether fatigue and depression are conceptually distinct concepts or reciprocally dependent. This was a secondary analysis of a descriptive, cross-sectional study with convenience sampling.

A number of theoretical fatigue frameworks have been developed by nurse scientists with the intention of guiding research, practice, and education in fatigue. However, there is a significant gap between theory development and research utilization of fatigue frameworks in clinical and intervention trials.