Reliability and validity of Short Form 36 Version 2 to measure health perceptions in a sub-group of individuals with fatigue

Abstract

Purpose. To determine the validity and reliability of Short Form 36 Version 2 (SF36v2) in sub-groups of individuals with fatigue.

Method. Thirty subjects participated in this study, including n  ==  16 subjects who met case definition criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and n  ==  14 non-disabled sedentary matched control subjects. SF36v2 and Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20) were administered before two maximal cardiopulmonary exercise tests (CPETs) administered 24 h apart and an open-ended recovery questionnaire was administered 7 days after CPET challenge. The main outcome measures were self-reported time to recover to pre-challenge functional and symptom status, frequency of post-exertional symptoms and SF36v2 sub-scale scores.

Results. Individuals with CFS demonstrated significantly lower SF36v2 and MFI-20 sub-scale scores prior to CPET. Between-group differences remained significant post-CPET, however, there were no significant group by test interaction effects. Subjects with CFS reported significantly more total symptoms (p  <  0.001), as well as reports of fatigue (p  <  0.001), neuroendocrine (p  <  0.001), immune (p  <  0.01), pain (p  <  0.01) and sleep disturbance (p  <  0.01) symptoms than control subjects as a result of CPET. Many symptom counts demonstrated significant relationships with SF36v2 sub-scale scores (p  <  0.05). SF36v2 and MFI-20 sub-scale scores demonstrated significant correlations (p  <  0.05). Various SF36v2 sub-scale scores demonstrated significant predictive validity to identify subjects who recovered from CPET challenge within 1 day and 7 days (p  <  0.05). Potential floor effects were observed for both questionnaires for individuals with CFS.

Conclusion. Various sub-scales of SF36v2 demonstrated adequate reliability and validity for clinical and research applications. Adequacy of sensitivity to change of SF36v2 as a result of a fatiguing stressor should be the subject of additional study.

Keywords:

• Fatigue
• health perceptions
• Short Form 36
• SF36v2
• chronic fatigue syndrome

Declaration of interest:

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.