Table 1.
Fatigue measurement tools that have been used in studies of patients with CKD
| Measurement Tool | No. of Fatigue Questions | Scoring | Comments |
| Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy – Fatigue (FACIT-F) (9) | 13 | Each item is a five-point scale; total score 0–52, with lower scores indicating worse fatigue | Scale is designed to assess fatigue, rather than being a single-item of a scale designed for other purposes. Score ≤44 frequently used to indicate fatigue. Scale has also been used in patients with kidney failure |
| CKD Symptom Burden Index (10) fatigue item | 1 | Presence (yes or no) and ten-point scales for severity, distress, or frequency; total score for each domain 0–10, with higher score indicating worse symptoms | Single item of a questionnaire designed to assess the burden of multiple symptoms among patients with CKD stages 4 and 5; derived from the Dialysis Symptom Index. Scale has also been used in patients with kidney failure |
| Patient Outcome Scale (4,11) | 1 | Each item is a five-point Likert scale from 1 (not at all bothersome) to 5 (very bothersome) | Single item of a 17-item questionnaire that was originally created for palliative care patients and modified for patients with kidney failure |
| Dialysis Symptom Index (12) | 1 | Presence (yes or no) and five-point Likert scale to assess fatigue severity, with a higher score indicating more severe fatigue | Single item of a questionnaire designed to assess the burden of 30 symptoms among patients with kidney failure on dialysis. Scale has also been used in patients with kidney failure. |
| Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale Short Form (13) lack of energy item | 1 | Likert scale from 0 (not at all) to 4 (very much) referring to the amount fatigue distressed the patient | Single item of a questionnaire evaluating the burden of 32 symptoms |
| Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (14) fatigue item | 1 | Symptom severity rated from 0 to 10 on a visual analog scale | Single item of a questionnaire evaluating eight symptoms |
| Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology Self-Report (QIDS-SR16) (15) fatigue item | 1 | Likert scale from 0 (no fatigue) to 3 (severe fatigue) | Single item of a validated depression scale (16); score ≥1 associated with death, dialysis initiation, or hospitalization among patients with CKD (2) |
| Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) (17) fatigue item | 1 | Likert scale from 0 (no fatigue) to 3 (severe fatigue) | Single item of a validated depression scale (16) |
| 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) (18) vitality scale | 1 | Six-point Likert scale with higher scores indicating more severe fatigue | Fatigue score is derived from one item from a questionnaire designed to evaluate eight domains of quality of life |
| 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) (19) vitality scale | 4 | Each item is a six-point Likert scale; total score 0–100, with higher scores indicating worse fatigue | Fatigue score is derived from four items from a questionnaire designed to evaluate eight domains of quality of life. Scale has also been used in patients with kidney failure |