Fatigue, rheumatoid arthritis, and anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy: an investigation in 24,831 patients

Abstract

Among RA patient self-report measures, fatigue is not ranked as important as functional disability, pain, or depression by most patients. This relative ranking is confirmed by examination of clinical improvement data. Fatigue levels and predictors of fatigue are essentially the same in RA and OA. Although anti-TNF therapy lowers fatigue levels, there is no evidence that this effect is greater for anti-TNF therapy than for other RA treatments.