Fatigue is a disruptive symptom that inhibits normal functional performance of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients in daily activities [Theander et al ., 2003] and considerably impacts on their quality of life [guyatt et al ,. 1987].
Fatigue is an unpleasant subjective symptom that prevents individuals from performing his functions and using his normal capacity, affects whole body and changes from a slight exhaustion to unbearable fatigue (Swain, 2000).
In clinical interactions, fatigue frequently emerges as a prominent issue for patients living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Fatigue has been reported as the second most prevalent symptom after dyspnoea [Bliderman et al,. 2009)].
Fatigue …show more content…
McCarley (2003) explored that there was a moderate correlation between dyspnea and fatigue experienced by the patients with COPD. Reishtein (2005) reported that there was a moderately negative correlation between dyspnea, fatigue and functional capacity among COPD patients. It is reported that there is a complicated correlation in COPD between fatigue and other disease-relate symptoms such as dyspnea, anxiety, depressed emotions and sleep quality (Kapella et al. 2006). Breslin et al. (1998) suggested that physical dimensions of fatigue correlated with an increase in the severity of pulmonary impairment and reduction in exercise tolerance.
Associations between fatigue and disease severity have been reported in other chronic diseases, such as chronic heart failure [Falk et al., 2007] and COPD. Fatigue has been related to quality of life and functional limitation [Theander etal,. 2008], but the association between fatigue and disease severity is less clear.
The Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue scale (FACIT-F scale) is a 13-item scale [Cella et al,. 2002] that was previously employed in cohorts of patients with COPD [Baghai-Ravary et al,.