Table 3. Triggers and coping strategies for fatigue reported by cohort as a whole and in demographic subgroups.
| n (% total cohort) n = 1029 | Male, n (%) of total male n = 576 | Female, n (%) of total female) n = 453 | p-value (males vs females) * | Age < 65, n (%) of total age < 65) n = 344 | Age ≥ 65, n (%) of total age ≥ 65) n = 685 | p-value (age <65 vs age ≥65)* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patient-Reported Triggers | |||||||
| A poor night’s sleep | 639 (62.1) | 352 (61.1) | 287 (63.4) | 0.461 | 239 (69.5) | 400 (58.4) | 0.001 |
| Physical exertion (e.g. strenuous exercise or participating in sports) | 464 (45.1) | 295 (51.2) | 169 (37.3) | <0.001 | 160 (46.5) | 304 (44.4) | 0.517 |
| A busy day | 455 (44.2) | 221 (38.4) | 234 (51.7) | <0.001 | 186 (54.1) | 269 (39.3) | <0.001 |
| Emotions, either negative or positive (stress, anger, joy, excitement, etc.) | 314 (30.5) | 159 (27.6) | 155 (34.1) | 0.022 | 132 (38.4) | 182 (26.6) | <0.001 |
| Being overheated | 228 (22.2) | 119 (20.7) | 109 (24.1) | 0.192 | 91 (26.5) | 137 (20.0) | 0.019 |
| Taking medication for PD | 194 (18.9) | 118 (20.5) | 76 (16.8) | 0.131 | 78 (22.7) | 116 (16.9) | 0.026 |
| Fatigue is not triggered by specific experiences for me | 128 (12.4) | 71 (12.3) | 57 (12.6) | 0.902 | 30 (8.7) | 98 (14.3) | 0.010 |
| Some other trigger(s) | 78 (7.6) | 35 (6.1) | 43 (9.5) | 0.040 | 27 (7.8) | 51 (7.4) | 0.818 |
| Patient-Reported Coping Strategies | |||||||
| Sitting quietly (e.g. watching TV, listening to radio, reading, etc.) | 598 (58.1) | 316 (54.9) | 282 (62.3) | 0.017 | 185 (53.8) | 413 (60.3) | 0.046 |
| Laying down to rest (not sleeping) | 541 (52.6) | 286 (49.7) | 255 (56.3) | 0.034 | 195 (56.7) | 346 (50.5) | 0.061 |
| Sleeping | 495 (48.1) | 300 (52.1) | 195 (43.0) | 0.004 | 176 (51.2) | 319 (46.6) | 0.164 |
| Exercising | 195 (19.0) | 113 (19.6) | 82 (18.1) | 0.538 | 76 (22.1) | 119 (17.4) | 0.068 |
| Drinking coffee / caffeine | 169 (16.4) | 99 (17.2) | 70 (15.5) | 0.456 | 79 (23.0) | 90 (13.1) | <0.001 |
| Taking medication | 104 (10.1) | 56 (9.7) | 48 (10.6) | 0.644 | 43 (12.5) | 61 (8.9) | 0.071 |
| Eating | 91 (8.8) | 52 (9.0) | 39 (8.6) | 0.814 | 27 (7.8) | 64 (9.3) | 0.426 |
| Meditating | 80 (7.8) | 35 (6.1) | 45 (9.9) | 0.022 | 28 (8.1) | 52 (7.6) | 0.757 |
| Some other coping strategy | 65 (6.3) | 36 (6.3) | 29 (6.4) | 0.921 | 21 (6.1) | 44 (6.4) | 0.843 |
| Sitting in a bath and/or jacuzzi | 48 (4.7) | 16 (2.8) | 32 (7.1) | 0.001 | 18 (5.2) | 30 (4.4) | 0.540 |
*bold values denote significant difference in proportion reporting specified trigger or alleviating factor based on post-hoc comparison of adjusted residuals if chi2-test omnibus p<0.05