P. Salmon et Gm. Hall, Postoperative fatigue is a component of the emotional response to surgery - Results of multivariate analysis, J PSYCHOSOM, 50(6), 2001, pp. 325-335
Objective: To test the theory that postoperative fatigue is an aspect of th
e emotional, not physiological, response to surgery, we examined whether fa
tigue is a component of subjective experience after surgery and whether it
is related to subjective physical or emotional state. Methods: Patients (N
= 160) undergoing hip or knee arthroplasty were assessed preoperatively, 1
and 7 days and 1 and 6 months postoperatively using multiple indicators of
fatigue and subjective emotional and physical state. Covariance structure m
odeling was used to find out the structure of patients' experience on each
occasion. Results: At each time, data indicated four latent variables: nega
tive mood, positive mood, dysfunction and pain. Scales measuring fatigue in
dicated negative or positive mood but were unrelated to dysfunction and pai
n. Discussion: In surgical patients, the language of fatigue and energy des
cribes empirically distinct components of emotional state. Explanations for
postoperative fatigue should therefore be sought in emotional, not physiol
ogical, mechanisms. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.