Factors associated with reduced health status in people with peripheral neuropathies
1. Stockley, R.C.; 2. White, C.M.
1. Physiotherapy Programmes, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester. M13 OJA 2. Centre for Applied Biomedical Research, King's College University, London SE1 1UL
Purpose : The aim of this study was to investigate associations between health status and other aspects of functioning in people with peripheral neuropathies (PN). Relevance: People with PN have reduced health status (Merkies et al. 2002) but the factors that may be associated with poorer health status in this patient group have not been widely studied. Method: The self reported health status of participants with inflammatory PN was measured using the short form -36 item questionnaire (SF-36). Other measurements included strength (MRC sum score), activity limitations (Overall Neuropathy Limitations Scale, ONLS) feelings of fatigue (Fatigue impact scale, FIS), energy cost whilst walking (EO2) and total activity counts over 5 days (MTI Actigraph). Ethical approval was provided by the local NHS research ethics committee. Analysis: Associations between health status and other variables were investigated using Pearson correlation coefficients. Significance was set at p<0.05. Results: Thirteen PN participants (4 females; CIDP=7, GBS= 4, Other =2) were recruited. Poorer health perception on the SF-36 was significantly associated with increased physical fatigue (FIS-P; r=0.7). Physical function scores were strongly associated with the ONLS (r=0.89), strength (r=0.84) and fatigue affecting social activities (FIS-S; r=0.68). Very strong associations were seen between scores on the SF-36 social function and ONLS, FIS –S and FIS-P (r> 0.8). Conclusions: Both activity limitation and fatigue are likely to impact significantly on health status in people with PN. Further work is now necessary to understand fatigue in order to guide treatments to improve health status in this patient group.
Support
Financial support was provided by the Guy's and St Thomas' Charity.
References
Merkies IS, Schmitz PI, van der Meché FG, Samijn JP, van Doorn PA; Inflammatory Neuropathy Cause and Treatment (INCAT) group. Quality of life complements traditional outcome measures in immune–mediated polyneuropathies. Neurology. 2002;59(1):p 84–91.