Received 11 August 2009; received in revised form 4 January 2010; accepted 22 January 2010. published online 24 March 2010.
Abstract
Objective
Fatigue is a common and distressing complaint among people with diabetes and likely to hinder the ability to perform daily diabetes self-management tasks. A review of the literature about diabetes-related fatigue was conducted with an eye toward creating a framework for beginning to conduct more focused studies on this subject.
Methods
A literature search containing the terms diabetes, fatigue, tiredness, and symptoms was conducted to search for literature that addressed diabetes-related fatigue.
Results
Diabetes presents many potential pathways for fatigue, but focused studies on this symptom are rare. Furthermore, research on diabetes-related fatigue is limited by fatigue's nonspecific symptoms and because fatigue researchers have yet to agree on standardized definition, measurement, or diagnostic criteria. Additionally, few diabetes randomized clinical trials included measurement of patient-reported outcomes, such as symptoms or health-related quality of life in their study designs, although one that did provided some meaningful finding that symptom-focused education improved self-management practices, HbA1c levels, quality of life, and symptom distress.
Conclusion
There is a need to standardize the definition, measurement, and diagnostic criteria of fatigue in diabetes. We present a model that can guide focused studies on fatigue in diabetes. The model capitalizes on the multidimensional phenomena (physiological, psychological, and lifestyle) associated with fatigue in diabetes.
Department of Biobehavioral Health Science, College of Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
Corresponding author. College of Nursing (MC 802), University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 South Damen Avenue, Chicago, IL 60612, USA. Tel.: +1 312 996 4260.
☆ This research was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute for Nursing Research F31 NR009751.
ABSTRACT