Validity and reliability of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Fatigue Scale in Mexican patients.

INTRODUCTION

Fatigue is an extra-intestinal manifestation of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

OBJECTIVE

To determine the construct validity, discriminant validity and reliability of an instrument for evaluating the Fatigue Scale for IBD in Mexican patients.

METHODS

Two hundred patients with an IBD confirmed diagnosis were included. Current demographic and clinical characteristics of the condition were evaluated. Each patient answered the IBD Fatigue Scale (IBD-F) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), which was used to determine IBD-F discriminant validity. A factor analysis of each IBD-F section was performed, independent sample Student's t-tests were used to contrast the PSQI, and reliability was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha.

RESULTS

The items in both IBD-F sections showed high factor loadings, which explained 68.3 and 38.4% of variance, respectively. Cronbach's alpha was > 0.80 in both, which discriminated patients with greater sleep disturbances.

CONCLUSIONS

IBD-F is a valid and reliable scale for Mexican patients with IBD. Fatigue objective evaluation will allow timely interventions in order to reduce its impact on patients with IBD.