Measuring fatigue among women with Sjögren's syndrome or rheumatoid arthritis: A comparison of the Profile of Fatigue (ProF) and the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI)

Abstract

Background: Fatigue is common in both Sjögren's syndrome (SS) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and can restrict functioning. Aims: We tested the convergent validity of the Profile of Fatigue (ProF) using the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI) in SS and RA. Methods: The 16-item ProF and the 20-item MFI were completed by 82 White-British women aged 35-79 years (mean 60.4 years). Thirty-four had been diagnosed with SS for a mean of 7.0 years and 48 had been diagnosed with RA for a mean of 14.5 years. The ProF measures four somatic facets of fatigue and two mental facets; the MFI contains one mental and four somatic facets. The structures of the items from both measures were tested by principal component factor analysis using varimax rotation. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.