Correlation between fatigue and quality of life self-reported by adolescents with cerebral palsy

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: to investigate the correlation between fatigue and quality of life in adolescents with cerebral palsy who are susceptible to more significant fatigue and lower quality of life. METHODS: cross-sectional study conducted with 101 adolescents with cerebral palsy. Instruments such as the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory and Gross Motor Function Classification System were used, and Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Mann-Whitney, and Spearman tests were applied. RESULTS: older adolescents self-reported higher fatigue levels, and female adolescents, quadriplegic, with worse motor function, older, and not attending school had lower quality of life scores. Higher fatigue levels correlated with lower quality of life in all domains (p<0.01), especially in tiredness (general and mental) and functioning (social, academic, and psychosocial). CONCLUSIONS: fatigue correlated negatively with the quality of life of adolescents with cerebral palsy, showing that the higher the level of fatigue, the more compromised is the adolescents' life.