Patients With Osteogenesis Imperfecta Experience Increased Fatigue

People with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) are significantly more fatigued than the general population, according to findings of a new pilot study.

The prevalence and experience of fatigue among patients with OI is largely unknown.

To address this, the researchers distributed the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) questionnaire via the mobile phone application to 151 adults with different types of OI. Results of the FSS in the OI group were compared with control populations from the United States (n=20) and the Netherlands (n=113) from 2 previous studies.

A total of 99 patients (61 women, 38 men) with OI completed the FSS. Of these patients, 72 had OI type I, 13 had OI type III, and 14 had OI type IV. The mean age was 45 years (range, 19-80 years).

The higher the FSS score, the higher the impact on fatigue in daily living.

The mean FSS score of the OI cohort was 4.4 and significantly higher than the US control group (2.3) and the Dutch control group (2.9). Among the OI cohort, 65% reported experiencing at least moderate fatigue.

There were no significant differences in the mean FSS score among OI types.

“Although, there were several limitations of our study, based on the current data, there is sufficient evidence for increased severity of fatigue in our cohort of OI patients,” the researchers concluded. “An important direction for future research is performing longitudinal measurements using the FSS and exploring determinants of fatigue as this may be of importance for the quality of life in OI patients.”

—Melinda Stevens

Reference:

Harsevoort AGJ, Gooijer K, van Dijk FS, et al. Fatigue in adults with osteogenesis imperfecta. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2020;21(1):6. doi:10.1186/s12891-019-3000-7.