Fatigue, Participation and Quality of Life in Adolescents and Young Adults with Acquired Brain Injury in an Outpatient Rehabilitation Cohort

ABSTRACT

Purpose

To study the association between fatigue and participation and QoL after acquired brain injury (ABI) in adolescents and young adults (AYAs).

Materials & Methods

Cross-sectional study with AYAs aged 14–25 years, diagnosed with ABI. The PedsQL™ Multidimensional Fatigue Scale, Child & Adolescent Scale of Participation, and PedsQL™4.0 Generic Core Scales were administered.

Results

Sixty-four AYAs participated in the study, 47 with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Median age at admission was 17.6 yrs, 0.8 yrs since injury. High levels of fatigue (median 44.4 (IQR 34.7, 59.7)), limited participation (median 82.5 (IQR 68.8, 92.3)), and diminished QoL (median 63.0 (IQR 47.8, 78.3)) were reported. More fatigue was significantly associated with more participation restrictions (β 0.64, 95%CI 0.44, 0.85) and diminished QoL (β 0.87, 95%CI 0.72, 1.02).

Conclusions

AYAs with ABI reported high levels of fatigue, limited participation and diminished quality of life with a significant association between fatigue and both participation and QoL. Targeting fatigue in rehabilitation treatment could potentially improve participation and QoL.

KEYWORDS:

• Fatigue
• participation
• quality of life
• acquired brain injury
• adolescents and young adults

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all the participants that participated in this study. Further, we would like to thank Cedric Kromme, Rosa Yahood, Mirjam van Ooijen and Bart Mertens.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. Financial support was obtained from the Hersenstichting (PZ2015.01.10) and the Revalidatiefonds (R2014124).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Hersenstichting [PZ2015.01.10];Revalidatiefonds [R2014124].