CORRELATES OF FATIGUE IN OLDER ADULTS WITH RHEUMATOID-ARTHRITIS

The purposes of this study were to describe the prevalence of fatigue, examine the association between fatigue and doctor visits, and identi fy correlates of fatigue in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). On average, a h igh degree of fatigue was reported to occur every day, to remain const ant during the course of a week, and to most often affect walking and household chores. When controlling for disease severity and insurance coverage, respondents who reported more fatigue made more visits to th e rheumatologist than those reporting less fatigue. A regression model with fatigue as the dependent variable revealed that the following va riables explained a significant amount of variance: pain rating, funct ional status, sleep quality, female gender, comorbid conditions, and d uration of disease.