September 5, 2017
Depression and fatigue in multiple sclerosis (MS) share several features and have a similar longitudinal course, according to a recent study. However, using cut-off scores to define depression and fatigue, this study also found that non-depressed subjects with high fatigue may be at a greater risk for developing depression. MS subjects who completed a battery of patient reported outcome (PRO) measures including the CES-D and MFIS (n=435) were included in the analysis. Researchers found:
At baseline, 15% of subjects were classified as high on both depression and fatigue scales, 16% were classified as high on the fatigue scale only, and 9% were classified as high on the depression scale only.
There was a high correlation between CES-D and MFIS total scores (r=0.62).
High correlations were also observed between the somatic and retarded activity subscales of the CES-D and each of the MFIS subscales (r ≥0.60).
Subjects with high fatigue scores but low depression scores at baseline were more likely than subjects with low baseline fatigue and depression scores to develop high depression scores at follow-up.
Citation:
Greeke EE, Chua AS, Healy BC, Rintelli DJ, Chitnis T, Glanz BI. Depression and fatigue in patients with multiple sclerosis. [Published online ahead of print July 31, 2017]. J Neurol Sci. doi:10.1016/j.jns.2017.07.047.
