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Relationship between fatigue after acquired brain injury and depression, injury localization and aetiology: An
Anna Holmqvist1, Märta Berthold Lindstedt, Marika C Möller
1Department of Rehabilitation Medicine Stockholm, Danderyd University Hospital, , 18288 Stockholm, Sweden. anna.n.holmqvist@gmail.com.
Objective:
Fatigue after acquired brain injury may be related to the subcortico-frontal attention network. Depression is also strongly related to fatigue. This study investigates whether injury localization, diagnosis and depression are related to self-rated mental fatigue in patients with an acquired brain injury.
Design:
Retrospective cross-sectional cohort study.
Subjects:
Sixty-one patients diagnosed with stroke, subarachnoidal haemorrhage, traumatic brain injury, or brain tumour were included in the study.
Methods:
Patients who underwent a multidisciplinary team assessment during September 2011 to June 2012, and who were assessed with the Mental Fatigue Scale, were included in the study.
Results:
A significantly higher number of patients with posterior and non-specific lesions experienced fatigue compared with those with subcortical/frontal injuries. Fewer stroke patients experienced fatigue compared with the other patient groups. How-ever, after logistic regression, only depression remained as an explanatory variable for self-rated fatigue. Nevertheless, although all patients with depression were fatigued, not all fatigued patients were depressed.
Conclusion:
Although depression explains a high degree of fatigue after an acquired brain injury, mental fatigue after brain injury should be viewed as a condition partly separate from depression. Future extensive comparative studies are required, preferably including neuropsychological measures.
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