A Study on the Pain, Fatigue Perceived by Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

Yoo, Kyung Hee

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the level of pain and fatigue in rheumatoid arthritis patients. METHOD: The subjects for this study were 120 patients registered in S University Hospital, and the period of data collection was from June 20, 2005 to October 15, 2005.
RESULTS
The research instruments used in this study were the Graphic Rating Scale of Pain and Fatigue, and the cronbach's alpha of Fatigue scale was .90. In data analysis, SPSSWIN 12.0 program was used for descriptive statistics. The results were as follows. 1) The range of total pain scores was from 10 to 100 and the mean score of the pain in rheumatoid arthritis patients was 53.70. 2) The range of total fatigue scores was from 20 to 58 and the mean score of the fatigue in rheumatoid arthritis patients was 36.04. 3) There was a significant difference in pain according to duration of disease(F=3.934, p<.05). 4) There was a significant difference in fatigue according to duration of disease(F=3.442, p<.05). 5) The level of fatigue was significant correlation with the level of pain in rheumatoid arthritis patients(r=.217, p<.01).
CONCLUSION
The level of fatigue was significant correlation with the level of pain in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Therefore nursing interventions decreasing the pain perceived by rheumatoid arthritis patients are needed to decrease there fatigue levels.