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The PedsQL Multidimensional Fatigue Scale in type 1 diabetes: feasibility, reliability, and validity
James W Varni1, Christine A Limbers, William P Bryant
1Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3137, USA. jvarni@archmail.tamu.edu
Insights
The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) Multidimensional Fatigue Scale is reliable and valid for assessing fatigue in children with type 1 diabetes. This tool helps evaluate fatigue severity in pediatric patients.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Endocrinology
- Health Outcomes Research
- Psychometrics
Background:
- The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) is a modular instrument for assessing health-related quality of life in children.
- The PedsQL Multidimensional Fatigue Scale measures fatigue in pediatric patients via child self-report and parent proxy-report.
- Type 1 diabetes significantly impacts children's quality of life, with fatigue being a common symptom.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the feasibility, reliability, and validity of the PedsQL Multidimensional Fatigue Scale in pediatric patients with type 1 diabetes.
- To establish the PedsQL Multidimensional Fatigue Scale as a dependable tool for measuring fatigue in this population.
Main Methods:
- Administered the 18-item PedsQL Multidimensional Fatigue Scale (General Fatigue, Sleep/Rest Fatigue, Cognitive Fatigue domains) and PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales.
- Collected data from 83 pediatric patients with type 1 diabetes and 84 parents.
Main Results:
- The scale showed minimal missing responses (0.3% child, 0.3% parent).
- Achieved excellent reliability (alpha=0.92 child, 0.94 parent) for the Total Fatigue Scale score.
- Demonstrated construct validity through significant correlations with PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales and distinguished between diabetic children and healthy controls.
- Fatigue levels in pediatric patients with type 1 diabetes were comparable to those in pediatric patients with cancer on treatment.
Conclusions:
- The PedsQL Multidimensional Fatigue Scale exhibits robust measurement properties for use in type 1 diabetes.
- This scale can be employed for the standardized evaluation of fatigue in pediatric patients diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
Background:
The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL, Mapi Research Trust, Lyon, France; www.pedsql.org) is a modular instrument designed to measure health-related quality of life and disease-specific symptoms in children and adolescents. The PedsQL Multidimensional Fatigue Scale was designed as a child self-report and parent proxy-report generic symptom-specific instrument to measure fatigue in pediatric patients. The objective of the present study was to determine the feasibility, reliability, and validity of the PedsQL Multidimensional Fatigue Scale in type 1 diabetes.
Methods:
The 18-item PedsQL Multidimensional Fatigue Scale (General Fatigue, Sleep/Rest Fatigue, and Cognitive Fatigue domains) and the PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales were administered to 83 pediatric patients with type 1 diabetes and 84 parents.
Results:
The PedsQL Multidimensional Fatigue Scale evidenced minimal missing responses (0.3% child report and 0.3% parent report), achieved excellent reliability for the Total Fatigue Scale score (alpha= 0.92 child report, 0.94 parent report), distinguished between pediatric patients with diabetes and healthy children, and was significantly correlated with the PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales supporting construct validity. Pediatric patients with diabetes experienced fatigue that was comparable to pediatric patients with cancer on treatment, demonstrating the relative severity of their fatigue symptoms.
Conclusions:
The results demonstrate the measurement properties of the PedsQL Multidimensional Fatigue Scale in type 1 diabetes. The findings suggest that the PedsQL Multidimensional Fatigue Scale may be utilized in the standardized evaluation of fatigue in pediatric patients with type 1 diabetes.
