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.