Premium
Post‐stroke fatigue and return to work: a 2‐year follow‐up
Author(s) -
Andersen G.,
Christensen D.,
Kirkevold M.,
Johnsen S. P.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
acta neurologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.967
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1600-0404
pISSN - 0001-6314
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0404.2011.01557.x
Subject(s) - confidence interval , medicine , stroke (engine) , odds ratio , logistic regression , affect (linguistics) , physical therapy , psychology , mechanical engineering , communication , engineering
Andersen G, Christensen D, Kirkevold M, Johnsen SP. Post‐stroke fatigue and return to work: a 2‐year follow‐up.
Acta Neurol Scand: 2012: 125: 248–253.
© 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Background – Post‐stroke fatigue may affect the ability to return to work but quantitative studies are lacking. Method – We included 83 first‐ever stroke patients <60 years and employed either full‐time ( n = 77) or part‐time ( n = 6) at baseline. The patients were recruited from stroke units at Aarhus University Hospital between 2003 and 2005 and were followed for 2 years. Fatigue was assessed by the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory. Pathological fatigue was defined as a score ≥12 on the General Fatigue dimension. Return to paid work was defined as working at least 10 h per week. Data were analyzed using multivariable logistic regression. Results – A total of 58% of patients had returned to paid work after 2 years. The adjusted Odds Ratio (OR) for returning to paid work was 0.39 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.16–1.08) for patients with a General Fatigue score ≥12 at baseline. Persisting pathological fatigue after 2 years of follow‐up was associated with a lower chance of returning to paid work [adjusted OR 0.29 (95% CI 0.11–0.74)]. Higher scores of General Fatigue at follow‐up also correlated negatively with the chance of returning to paid work when analyzing fatigue on a continuous scale (adjusted OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.80–0.94 for each point increase in General Fatigue). Conclusions – Post‐stroke fatigue appears to be an independent determinant of not being able to resume paid work following stroke.