Fatigue and health‐related quality of life among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in China

Objectives Fatigue is an important yet ignored symptom of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, there is a paucity of literature from China on fatigue and its association with health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) among COPD patients. The purpose of this study was to (a) evaluate fatigue of COPD inpatients in China and (b) explore the association between fatigue and HRQoL. Methods This cross‐sectional study recruited patients hospitalised for an acute exacerbation of COPD within one month from three general hospitals in central China. Disease severity, fatigue and HRQoL were assessed for all participants using COPD Assessment Test (CAT), 9‐item Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy‐Fatigue scale (FACIT‐F) and 12‐Item Short‐Form Health Survey (SF‐12v2). Results A total of 210 COPD patients participated in the study between April 2017 and January 2018, with an average age of 71.1 ± 12.2 years old. The overall prevalence of moderate to severe fatigue was 48.5%. A worse FACIT‐F score was associated with worse CAT score (r = −0.74, P