Table 2.
Properties of fatigue PRO instruments
| PRO instrument | Reference (linked publication) | Citations/yeara | Trial use/yearb | Intended user group | Number of Items | Response categories | Recall period | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Author | |||||||
| Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) | 1989 | Krupp [16] | 42c | 99 | Medical and neurological disorders | 9 | 1 – strongly disagree to 7 – strongly agree | NS |
| Multiple Sclerosis-Specific Fatigue Severity Scale (MFSS) | 1989 | Krupp [16] | 42c | 0 | MS | 6 | 1 – strongly disagree to 7 – strongly agree | NS |
| Visual Analogue Scale for Fatigue (VAS-F) | 1991 | Lee [20] | 9 | 2 | Healthy subjects and patients who complain of poor sleep | 18 | 100 mm VAS scale per item | How you feel right now |
| Chalder Fatigue Questionnaire/Scale (CFQ) | 1993 | Chalder [28] | 21 | 3 | Hospital and community populations | 14 | 'Better than usual', 'no more than usual', 'worse than usual', 'much worse than usual' | NS |
| Fatigue Assessment Instrument/Inventory (FAI) |
1993 (1989) |
Schwartz [29] (Krupp [16]) |
4 | 1 | Patients with fatigue as a major presenting symptom | 29 | 1—Completely disagree to 7—Completely agree | Past 2 weeks |
| Fatigue Impact Scale (FIS) |
1994 (1984) (1989) |
Fisk [18] (Freal [30]) (Krupp [16]) |
11 | 157 | Wide range of patient groups | 40 | 0—no problem to 4—extreme problem | Past month |
| Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI) | 1995 | Smets [31] | 30 | 0 | Patients (NS) | 20 | 1—yes that is true to 5—no, that is not true | Lately |
| Modified Fatigue Impact Scale (MFIS) |
1997 (1994) |
Ritvo [32] (Fisk [18]) |
N/A | 138 | MS | 21 | 0—Never to 4—Almost always | Past 4 weeks |
| Fatigue Descriptive Scale (FDS) |
1999 (1994) |
Iriarte [33] (Iriarte [34]) |
1 | 0 | Clinically definite MS | 12 | Variable, depending on item | NS |
| Schedule of Fatigue and Anergia for General Practice (SOFA-GP) | 2000 | Hadzi-Pavlovic [35] | 1 | 0 | Community and primary care settings | 10 | 1—None or a little to 4—Most of the time | Past few weeks |
| Iowa Fatigue Scale (IFS) | 2003 | Hartz [19] | 1 | 0 | General primary care patients | 11 | 1—Not at all to 5—Extremely | Past month |
| Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS) | 2004 | Michielsen [36] | N/A | 0 | General population | 10 | 1—Never to 5—Always | How you usually feel |
| Fatigue Scale for Motor and Cognitive Functions (FSMC) | 2009 | Penner [37] | 9 | 23 | Fatigued MS patients | 20 |
5-Point Likert scale from ‘Does not apply at all’ to ‘Applies completely’ |
Normal day-to-day life |
| Unidimensional Fatigue Impact Scale (U-FIS) |
2009 (1994) |
Meads [38] (Fisk [18]) |
1 | 1 | MS | 22 | 0—Never to 3—all the time | Past 1 week |
| Neurological Fatigue Index—Multiple Sclerosis (NFI-MS) |
2010 (2008) |
Mills [15] (Mills [14]) |
3 | 1 | MS | 10 | 0—Strongly disagree to 3—Strongly agree | Past 2 weeks |
| PROMIS Fatigue MS |
2012 (2007) (2010) (2011) |
Cook [39] (De Walt [40]) (Riley [41]) (Lai [42]) |
2 | 0 | MS | 8 | Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Often, or Always | Past 4 weeks |
| Fatigue Symptoms and Impacts Questionnaire -Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (FSIQ-RMS) | 2019 | Hudgens [17] | 1 | 3 | RRMS | 20 | Variable, depending on item |
Variable, depending on item (24 h, past 7 days) |
| Short Fatigue Questionnaire (SFQ) |
2020 (1994) |
Penson [43] (Vercoulen [44]) |
3 | 0 | Clinical and research settings | 4 | 1—Yes, that is true to 7—no, that is not true | NS |
Italicised references denote linked publications
MS multiple sclerosis, N/A not available, NS details not specified in development publication, RRMS relapsing remitting MS
aTotal number of citations according to PubMed divided by the number of years since publication of development paper
bTotal number of trials using instrument according to clinicaltrials.gov divided by the number of years since publication of development paper
cThe FSS and MFSS have the same number of citations per year because they have the same development paper