Premium
Fatigue measurements in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis and the risk of mortality during follow‐up
Author(s) -
Björnsson Einar,
Kalaitzakis Evangelos,
Neuhauser Matthias,
Enders Felicity,
Maetzel Hardy,
Chapman Roger W.,
Talwalkar Jayant,
Lindor Keith,
Jorgensen Roberta
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
liver international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.873
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1478-3231
pISSN - 1478-3223
DOI - 10.1111/j.1478-3231.2009.02160.x
Subject(s) - medicine , interquartile range , hazard ratio , liver transplantation , gastroenterology , confidence interval , primary biliary cirrhosis , cohort , transplantation , proportional hazards model , bilirubin , cirrhosis , surgery
Background: Fatigue was recently suggested to predict an increased risk of mortality in a primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) cohort during follow‐up. Aims: To analyse the impact of fatigue on prognosis in PBC. Methods: Patients with PBC who had earlier completed the fatigue impact scale (FIS) were identified. Prognosis in terms of death and liver transplantation (Tx) was determined. Results: FIS values at baseline were analysed from 208 patients (192 females; median age 59 years (interquartile range 51–67), median follow‐up of 5 years. Overall, 181 patients were alive at follow‐up, 22 (12%) died and five (2.4%) underwent transplantation. FIS at baseline was 28 (12–47) and FIS at follow‐up was 25 (8–64) ( P <0.001; r =0.69). Among survivors, FIS at baseline was 27 (12–43), 36 (12–72) in those who died ( P =0.059) and 99 (41–102) in those who underwent transplantation ( P =0.0008). FIS at baseline was 44 (12–88) in patients with death and/or Tx vs. 27 (12–43) in survivors ( P =0.003). Age [hazard ratio (HR) 1.1 (confidence interval (CI) 1.0–1.2)] and aspartate aminotransferase [HR 2.0 (CI 1.3–3.0)] were independently associated with decreased survival on multivariate analysis. FIS scores over 40 [HR 9.6 (CI 2.3–39.7)] and bilirubin [HR 4.8 (CI 2.8–8.2)] were independently associated with a poor outcome in patients who underwent Tx or had a liver‐related death. Conclusions: Fatigue seems to change little over time in PBC. Fatigue levels were higher at baseline in those who died or underwent Tx. High fatigue levels seem to be a predictor of risk of liver‐related mortality and need for transplantation over time but not a predictor of non‐liver‐related mortality.