Prevalence of Fatigue and its Association with Pain Intensity, Psychological Status and Sleep Quality in Patients with Neck Pain

Introduction: Neck Pain (NP) is a major public health problem. Social and economic participation of many individuals gets negatively impacted due to NP. Fatigue and pain are common complaints in patients with this condition. Both can interfere with the daily life of patients by affecting the quality of sleep which can lead to psychological issues. But, the prevalence of fatigue and its association with pain, sleep quality and psychological factors have not been examined properly in patients complaining of NP. Aim: To examine the prevalence of fatigue and its association with pain intensity, depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbance in patients with NP. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study on 296 NP patients with a mean age of 30 +/- 7.2 years (181 males and 115 females) was conducted between March 2019 till November 2019. It was conducted at the Physiotherapy Department of the University and Amarjyoti College of Physiotherapy. The Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI), Hospital Anxiety and Depression, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Numeric Pain Rating Scale were used to evaluate fatigue, depression and anxiety, sleep quality and pain intensity, respectively. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient and Mann-Whitney U test were used for analysis. Results: The point prevalence rate of severe fatigue in participants was 39.86%. Fatigue was significantly related with pain intensity, psychological factors, and sleep quality (p<0.05). We also observed a significant association between sleep quality and psychological factors in this sample (p<0.05). Conclusion: Fatigue was a prominent factor in patients with NP and it was associated with pain intensity, depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbance. Prevalence of fatigue was higher in chronic stage of NP than in the acute sage. Identifying these factors may help in prevention and management of NP and its co-morbidities.