Assessing fatigue in multiple sclerosis: Psychometric properties of the five-item Modified Fatigue Impact Scale (MFIS-5)

Virginia Meca-Lallana, María Brañas-Pampillón, Yolanda Higueras, Antonio Candeliere-Merlicco, Yolanda Aladro-Benito, Ofir Rodríguez-De la Fuente, Elisa Salas-Alonso, Jorge Maurino, Javier Ballesteros, Virginia Meca-Lallana, María Brañas-Pampillón, Yolanda Higueras, Antonio Candeliere-Merlicco, Yolanda Aladro-Benito, Ofir Rodríguez-De la Fuente, Elisa Salas-Alonso, Jorge Maurino, Javier Ballesteros

Abstract

Fatigue in multiple sclerosis is a key symptom associated with work-related problems and poor quality of life outcomes. The five-item Modified Fatigue Impact Scale is a brief self-assessment tool for measuring the impact of fatigue on cognitive, physical and psychosocial function. A non-interventional, cross-sectional study was conducted to assess dimensionality and item characteristics of the five-item Modified Fatigue Impact Scale in multiple sclerosis. A total of 302 subjects were studied. Mokken analysis found the five-item Modified Fatigue Impact Scale is a strong one-dimensional scale (overall scalability index H = 0.67) with high reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.90). The confirmatory factor analysis model confirmed the one-dimensional structure (comparative fit index = 1.0, root-mean-square error of approximation = 0.035). Samejima's model fitted well as an unconstrained model with different item difficulties. The five-item Modified Fatigue Impact Scale shows appropriate psychometric characteristics and may constitute a valuable and easy-to-implement addition to measure the impact of fatigue in clinical practice.

Keywords: Multiple sclerosis; fatigue; patient-reported outcome; psychometric methods.

© The Author(s) 2019.

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Source: PubMed

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