Abstract Details

Title Patient Interviews to Determine Meaningful Concepts of Fatigue in Patients with Progressive MS

Topic Multiple Sclerosis

Presentation(s) MS and CNS Inflammatory Disease Posters (7:00 AM-5:00 PM)

Poster/Presentation
Number 191

Objective To obtain qualitative evidence from participants with progressive multiple sclerosis (PMS) to characterize MS-related fatigue and its impact on health-related quality of life.

Background Approximately 80% of people with MS experience fatigue. Although there are existing fatigue patient-reported outcome instruments developed for MS, input from patients with PMS is limited.

Design/Methods Following IRB approval and consent, individual 60-minute video-conference interviews were conducted with 30 adult PMS participants reporting MS-related fatigue in the last 6 months. Participants were excluded if they took sedating medications or had any comorbidities causing fatigue. The interview discussion encompassed MS-related fatigue, its impact on participants’ lives, and key areas for improvement. Data were analyzed to determine if conceptual saturation was achieved.

Results Of the 30 PMS participants interviewed (70% female), 47% were primary, 33% were active secondary, and 20% were non-active secondary. Approximately half of participants were not working and a third reported fair/poor health. Saturation was achieved after the 20th interview. All participants endorsed physical fatigue with descriptors including feeling “tired”, “weak”, “exhausted” or having “low energy.” Most participants (80%) experienced mental fatigue that resulted in difficulty communicating and concentrating/focusing; half experienced both mental fatigue and cognitive impairments from MS. Fatigue was highly prevalent (80% reported daily fatigue), persistent (half stated it lasts many hours), and extremely severe at its worst (average: 8.5; range 4-10 on 0-10 scale). Participants highlighted that improvements in the severity (67%), frequency (50%), and duration (40%) of their fatigue would be meaningful. Participants reported that fatigue highly impacts key health-related quality of life domains (e.g. emotional, work/school, mobility, activities of daily living, social, etc.).

Conclusions Physical and mental fatigue negatively and significantly impact people living with PMS. Most participants in this study experienced daily fatigue that lasted several hours per day. There is a high unmet need to address MS-related fatigue in this population.

Authors/Disclosures
PRESENTER	No disclosure on file
Kayla Scippa (ZS Associates)	No disclosure on file
	No disclosure on file
	No disclosure on file
Kiren Kresa-Reahl, MD (Atara Biotherapeutics)	Dr. Kresa-Reahl has received personal compensation for serving as an employee of Atara Biotherapeutics Inc.. Dr. Kresa-Reahl has received stock or an ownership interest from Atara Biotherapeutics Inc.

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