Lupus & Fatigue

Reviewed by Dr. Rosalind Ramsey-Goldman, LSI Medical Advisory Board Member

Chronic fatigue is a common problem and a burden for persons with inflammatory rheumatic diseases. Fatigue can persist even if there are no longer signs of inflammation while taking standard of care medications. A recent study conducted in Europe examined non-medication interventions to lessen fatigue using telephone-based counseling to change physical activity in the setting of psychosocial support. Most participants had arthritis (not lupus), and the investigators noted a significant improvement in fatigue in the group that received remote counseling. They called their study Lessening the Impact of Fatigue in Inflammatory Rheumatic Disease Trial, LIFT. This important study was one of the first to examine strategies to help lessen fatigue symptoms. You can read more about this study at ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03248518, or Lancet Rheumatology 2022, published online June 27, 2022 (1).
These results are very encouraging and support the strategy for the ongoing study at Northwestern University, called the Lupus Intervention Fatigue Trial (LIFT), which is specifically designed to help persons with lupus reduce fatigue using non-medication remote interventions. In addition, the counseling includes how to improve diet quality which was not included in the study from Europe. If you are interested in participating in LIFT, you can read more about this study at ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02653287, and our protocol paper published earlier this year (2). This is the link to the Lupus Intervention Fatigue Trial

Find out about more clinical trials here: clinicaltrials.gov

(1) Remotely delivered cognitive-behavioural and personalized exercise interventions to lessen the impact of fatigue: a qualitative evaluation. Bennett SE, Almeida C, Bachmair EM, Gray SR, Lovell K, Paul L, Wearden A, Macfarlane GJ, Basu N, Dures E; LIFT study team. Rheumatol Adv Pract. 2022 Jun 25;6(2):rkac051. eCollection 2022.
(2) Motivational interviewing intervention for increasing physical activity and improving dietary behaviors: The Lupus Intervention Fatigue Trial protocol. Kinnett-Hopkins D, Ehrlich-Jones L, Chmiel JS, Chung A, Erickson D, Semanik P, Spring B, Rothrock NE, Ramsey-Goldman R. Contemp Clin Trials. 2022 Mar;114:106690. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2022.106690.