Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34589772›Full record

ArticleBrain, behavior, & immunity - health2021

Dissecting the fatigue experience: A scoping review of fatigue definitions, dimensions, and measures in non-oncologic medical conditions.

Ruel Billones, Josephine K Liwang, Kierra Butler, Letitia Graves, Leorey N Saligan

Abstract readScoping Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Brain, behavior, & immunity - health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 67 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
67citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

67 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  3. Effectiveness of creative arts therapy for adult patients with cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2024
    Pooled it
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  5. Molecular Imaging Findings on Acute and Long-Term Effects of COVID-19 on the Brain: A Systematic Review.Journal of nuclear medicine : official publication, Society of Nuclear Medicine · 2022
    Pooled it
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  9. Purpose in life and concurrent and incident fatigue.Psychology, health & medicine · 2026
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7 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Ruel BillonesNational Institute of Nursing Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Josephine K LiwangNational Institute of Nursing Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Kierra ButlerNational Institute of Nursing Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Letitia GravesNational Institute of Nursing Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Leorey N SaliganNational Institute of Nursing Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionFatigue is a prevalent and potentially debilitating symptom that impacts the health-related quality-of-life of individuals diagnosed with acute and chronic medical conditions. Yet, its etiologic mechanism is not fully understood. Additionally, the assessment and determination of the clinical meaning of fatigue and its multidimensionality may vary by medical condition.

methodsA scoping literature review was conducted to investigate how fatigue is defined and measured, including its dimensions, in non-oncologic medical conditions. The PubMed database was searched using keywords.

resultsOverall, 8376 articles were screened at the title/abstract levels, where 293 articles were chosen for full-text review that mentioned fatigue or included fatigue measures. The review of the full text excluded 246 articles that did not assess at least one fatigue dimension using validated questionnaires and clinical tests. The final set included 47 articles. Physical fatigue was the most assessed fatigue dimension and the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory was the most widely used questionnaire to assess fatigue in this review. LIMITATIONS: This review was limited by including only English-language publications and using PubMed as the sole database for the search.

conclusionsThis review affirms that fatigue is a multidimensional construct, agnostic of medical condition, and that individual fatigue dimensions can be measured by validated clinical measures. Future research should focus on expanding the repertoire of clinical measures to assess specific fatigue dimensions.

Indexed as

Clinical measureFatigueFatigue assessmentFatigue dimension

Identifiers

PMID34589772
PMCPMC8474156

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.