Prevalence of fatigue and associated factors among clinically stable patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Guizhou, China: A cross‐sectional study

Abstract Introduction Fatigue is important, but ignored symptom among COPD patients. At present, there is very limited data are available for the prevalence of fatigue and its risk factors among COPD patients in China. Objective The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of fatigue and to investigate the factors associated with fatigue among clinically stable patients with COPD in China. Methods This is a cross‐sectional study using a questionnaire to collect data on sociodemographic, related to COPD disease, and exercise habits. Multidimensional fatigue inventory (MFI‐20) was used to assess the prevalence of fatigue. Independent samples t test, bivariate correlation, one‐way ANOVA test, and test for several independent samples were used to compare the sociodemographic factors with MFI‐20 scores of COPD patients. Multiple stepwise linear regression was performed to estimate influencing factors related to the MFI‐20 of COPD patients. Results Among the participants, the prevalence of fatigue was 88.62%. Negative correlations were found between FEV 1% and multidimensional fatigue ( r = −0.40, p < 0.01), general fatigue ( r = −0.20, p < 0.05), reduced activity ( r = −0.20, p < 0.01), and physical fatigue ( r = −0.10, p < 0.01). A multiple linear regression models revealed that age ( p < 0.05), BMI ( p < 0.05), FEV 1 % ( p < 0.01), exercise times ( p < 0.01), and the times of hospitalization in the past 12 months ( p < 0.05) were associated with multidimensional fatigue scores. Conclusions The prevalence of fatigue is high among clinically stable patients with COPD. Keeping exercise, prevention obesity, and exacerbation should be an effective intervention strategy to reduce COPD‐related fatigue.