Fatigue and Depression in Iranian Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Patients in Tehran in 2012

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease with a progressive and rapid course. Fatigue and depression are common among ALS patients. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between depression and fatigue in Iranian ALS patients.

In this 2012 cross-sectional study, 40 ALS patients, including 22 females and 18 males, were selected through consecutive relapsing-remitting, and 40 age- and gender-matched health controls (HCs) were recruited from Loghman Hakim Hospital in Tehran, Iran. The Persian version of the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS-Per) questionnaire and depression substance of Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) were used to assess fatigue and depression. Data were analyzed using the Kolmogorov-Sminov Test, Levene's test, Independent Samples t-test, and Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient.

We identified a significant and positive relationship between fatigue and depression in patients with ALS (p=0.000). Furthermore, the scores of fatigue and depression in ALS patients were higher than in non-ALS patients.

The results indicated that there was a relationship between fatigue and depression in ALS patients and that early intervention services can improve these symptoms. Further studies are suggested to investigate the direction of such relationship.