• Sarah Azam Shah, Taqdees Khaliq, and Saad Saleem.
• Department of Rheumatology, Federal Government Polyclinic Hospital, Islamabad, Pakistan.
• J Coll Physicians Surg Pak. 2024 Jan 1; 34 (1): 636763-67.

ObjectiveTo measure fatigue in axial spondyloarthropathy patients and find its correlation with the disease activity measures.Study DesignCross-sectional, descriptive study. Place and Duration of the Study: Rheumatology Unit, Federal Government Polyclinic Hospital, from November 2021 to May 2022.MethodologyThis study included 45 patients fulfilling the ASAS criteria for spondyloarthropathy. Bathankylosing spondylitis disease activity (BASDAI), Bath ankylosing spondylitis functional index (BASFI), and functional assessment of chronic illness therapy- fatigue (FACIT-F) scores were measured for each patient.ResultsIn this study, there were 9 (20%) female patients and 36 (80%) male patients. There were 39 (86.7%) patients who had ankylosing spondylitis, 4 (8.9%) had axial spondyloarthropathy with peripheral arthritis and 2 (4.4%) had enthesitis-related juvenile idiopathic arthritis. The mean duration of the disease was 5.45 ± 4.19 years. Active disease with a BASDAI score of ≥4 was found in 16 (35.6%) patients while 29 (64.4%) had a BASDAI score <4. Severe fatigue with a FACIT-F score of <30 was found in 31 (68.9%) of the patients while less fatigue with FACIT-F score >30 was found in 14 (31.1%). The mean BASFI score of the cohort was 3.23 ± 2.01. Spearman's rho correlation analysis showed a significant strong correlation between the FACIT-F score, BASDAI and BASFI scores (p<0.001).ConclusionPatients with active disease and higher BASFI scores had a lower FACIT-F score suggesting more fatigue, thus correlating with the disease activity.Key WordsBath ankylosing spondylitis disease activity (BASDAI), Functional assessment of chronic illness therapy-fatigue (FACIT-F), Ankylosing spondylitis (AS), Bath ankylosing spondylitis functional index (BASFI), Assessment in ankylosing spondylitis (ASAS).

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