Good afternoon everyone, and thank you for the work done so far. As we know, fatigue in rheumatoid arthritis is a complex issue; at times, it is related to disease activity, and at others, it is secondary to other factors also related to the disease, though less directly (the same can happen with pain, but it is far less common). My questions are: 1) Why is fatigue not also included in the physical component? 2) How will we attempt to differentiate between the various causes of fatigue? Thank you very much
Thank you, Cesar. We totally agree that fatigue is a complex issue with a physical component and a more psychosocial one. Since the first qualitative interview, ‘fatigue’ stood out as a major issue in the long term, affecting the lives of people with RA, without weighing more the physical or psychosocial components, which in the long term may not be easy to separate. When we discussed ‘fatigue’ in the group and when it was voted in, the life impact aspect of fatigue was a major argument in favour of including it, although we all recognised its duality as a reflection of both inflammation and mental burden. We placed it under ‘Life Impact’ as it was closer to our findings and discussions.
Loreto