Experience of severe fatigue long after stroke and its relation to depressive symptoms and disease characteristics

Although the experience of abnormal fatigue is recognised as a major disabl ing symptom in many chronic neurological diseases, little is known about th e persistence of severe fatigue after an abrupt neurological incident like a stroke. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to test whether the experience of severe fatigue persists long after a stroke has occurred, and to assess the relation between experienced fatigue and levels of physical impairment and depression. Ninety stroke outpatients and 50 controls return ed mailed questionnaires. Compared to age-matched controls, a significantly larger propoption (16 vs. 51%) of the stroke respondents experienced sever e fatigue, while 20% of the patients and 16% of the controls had elevated d epression symptom scores. The time which had elapsed since the stroke occur red could not explain levels of fatigue. In the control group, the number o f depressive symptoms explained most of the variance in levels of fatigue, while impairment of locomotion explained most of the variance in the stroke group. Copyright 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel.