| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立台北護理學院 === 護理研究所 === 91 === The purpose of this study is to explore the disease status, fatigue state, and physical activity levels in out-patient department (OPD) patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). It was a cross-section research that was carried out in a medical center in Taipei, Taiwan. Eighty-nine SLE patients and 31 healthy subjects (HS) were enrolled in this study. A questionnaire was designed to record the demographic data, systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index (SLEDAI), Visual Analogue Scale-Fatigue (VAS-F), Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) and Physical Activity Log (PAL) in patients and HS. The statistical analysis included Chi-square, Independent-T test, one way ANOVA and Pearson correlation. The results demonstrated that 83% of patients’ SLEDAI scores were less or equal to ten. The five most frequent items of SLEDAI in lupus patients were (1) increased DNA antibody (2) low complement, (3) arthritis or arthralgia (4) proteinuria and (5) skin rash. Seventy six percent of patients suffered from fatigue(FSS≧4), which was more prominent in SLE patients than in HS (p<0.05). Interestingly, fatigue was significantly increased in Monday morning and night in SLE patients compared to HS (p<0.05). In contrast, the physical activity in both SLE patients and HS are mild, and the mean energy consumption of SLE patients was only 39 kcal/kg/day. Age was an important factor that related with disease status. Besides, age at diagnosis and patients’ occupation could affect patients’ fatigue state. However, our study did not show any linear correlation among disease activity, fatigue and physical activity in lupus patients.
The lack of relationship between SLEDAI and fatigue may be due to the relative mild disease activity in our OPD patients. The cause of Monday morning and night fatigue in lupus patients is unclear and psychological factor cannot be ruled out. The lower physical activity in both SLE and control group was due to the lower performance of daily exercise in the majority of people. This is the first study to explore fatigue in the morning and night, and physical activity everyday in Taiwan. The results in this study may provide a reference for the exercise training in patients with SLE in the future.
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