Factors Affecting Fatigue in Patients with Type II Diabetes Mellitus Referring to Ardabil Diabetes Clinic

Fatigue is a common complaint in patients with type 2 diabetes, which can affect self-care behaviors and people's efforts to control diabetes. This study was conducted to determine the severity of fatigue and its related factors in patients with type 2 diabetes.

In this descriptive-correlational study, 218 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus who were referred to diabetes clinic of Imam Khomeini Hospital in Ardabil in 2017 were selected by available sampling. Data were collected by five questionnaires including: socio-demographic form, Fatigue Questionnaire, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality, Beck Depression, and Visual Analogue Scale. Data analysis was done by using descriptive (mean, standard deviation and frequency) and Inferential statistics (Pearson correlation coefficient, simple and multiple regression model) in SPSS software v22.

The mean fatigue score of the participants was 57.07±17.16, which indicated moderate fatigue. Pearson correlation test revealed a significant correlation between fatigue and pain (r=0.440 p<0.01), depression (r =0.590, p<0.01), Number of complications of the disease (r=38.0, p<0.01), Duration of diabetes (r=0.21, p<0.01), duration of exercise (r=-0.305, p<0.01), and sleep quality (r=0.390, p<0.01). However, no significant correlation was found between fatigue and glycosylated hemoglobin and BMI. Data analysis using multivariate linear regression showed that four factors of pain, depression, duration of disease, and duration of exercise were predictors of fatigue in patients with type II diabetes.

The present study showed that fatigue was a relatively common problem in patients with type 2 diabetes and factors such as pain, depression, duration of disease and duration of exercise were factors that affect fatigue. Health care providers need to pay special attention to fatigue assessment in patients with diabetes and proper interventions be taken to reduce pain and diagnosis and control depression in these patients.