Fatigue and Brain Atrophy in Egyptian Patients with Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis

Fatigue is the most troublesome symptom in relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). It starts early in the disease course, escalates with disease progression and impacts the patient's quality of life. Forty-three RRMS patients with 40 age-matched and sex-matched normal volunteers were recruited. Demographic and clinical data were recorded. Each participant was assessed with the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), Brief Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS) and a variety of brain volumetric measures. Thirty-one (72.1%) RRMS patients were found to have fatigue. There were no significant differences in demographic data between patients with or without fatigue according to FSS. However, patients with fatigue had a higher number of attacks, and higher scores in the EDSS and BICAMS than non-fatigued patients. There was a greater reduction in total brain volume, cerebral grey matter, brain stem, thalamic, and caudate volumes in fatigued compared with the non-fatigued patients and controls. FSS was significantly correlated with patients’ age, duration of illness, total number of attacks, EDSS, and BICAMS. Total brain, cerebral grey matter, and thalamic volumes all had negative correlations with fatigue severity. Regression analysis showed that EDSS accounted for 46% of the variance in fatigue scores, while thalamic and brainstem atrophy accounted for 50.7%. Fatigue was common in RRMS patients. Level of disability and atrophy of the thalamus and brain stem were the best predictors of fatigue.