Stroke Subjects with Higher Levels of Physical Activity Report Lower Levels of Fatigue

Background: If the associations between levels of physical activity and fatigue were established, specific, directed and more effective interventions could be developed to prevent the onset of fatigue. Objective: Therefore, the present study aimed to compare the levels of fatigue between subjects with different physical activity levels and to investigate the associations between self-reported levels of fatigue and physical activity of chronic stroke subjects. Method: This is a cross-sectional study, where 55 participants, with a mean age of 58.8 years and a mean time since the onset of the stroke of 25.5 months, had their fatigue and physical activity levels assessed by the Brazilian versions of the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) and the Human Activity Profile (HAP), respectively. Results: Forty percent of the participants were classified as impaired, 51% as moderately active, and 9% as active. One-way ANOVA revealed significant differences between the groups regarding their fatigue levels (F=9.60, p<0.001). The LSD post-hoc analyses revealed that the differences were significant between the impaired and moderately active (p<0.001, 95%CI: 0.57 to 2.19) and between the impaired and active groups (p<0.001, 95%CI: 1.2 to 4.0). No differences were observed between the moderately active and active groups (p=0.08, 95%CI: -0.1 to 2.6). Pearson correlation coefficient showed an inverse and good association between the HAP and the FSS scores (r=-0.60, p<0.001). Conclusions: Individuals with lower levels of physical activity reported higher levels of self-perceived fatigue, than those of the moderately active and active groups. Additionally, an inverse and good association was found between self reported physical activity and fatigue levels.