Brief Fatigue Inventory

From MEpedia, a crowd-sourced encyclopedia of ME and CFS science and history

The Brief Fatigue Inventory or BFI is a 9 item questionnaire designed to assess fatigue in people with cancer or people who have previously been treated for cancer.[1]

Theory[edit | edit source]

The BFI is quick and simple to complete, taking in average under 3 minutes.[2] Fatigue scores are scored by severity:

  • 1–3 mild fatigue
  • 4–7 moderate fatigue, and
  • 8–10 severe fatigue

Levels of 4 or greater suggest a need for intervention beyond activities for prevention.[2]

Evidence[edit | edit source]

The Brief Fatigue Inventory is not a scale suggested as suitable for measuring fatigue in ME/CFS.[3]

Criticism[edit | edit source]

The BFI assesses only one dimension of fatigue and takes a very short term measure of fatigue in asking the person to assess the severity of their fatigue at the present moment and their level of functioning in the last 24 hrs.[1] This would mean that post-exertional malaise, which can last 3 days or more, would affect the overall fatigue rating in ME/CFS patients.

See also[edit | edit source]

Learn more[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Mendoza, Tito R.; Wang, X. Shelley; Cleeland, Charles S.; Morrissey, Marilyn; Johnson, Beth A.; Wendt, Judy K.; Huber, Stephen L. (1999). "The rapid assessment of fatigue severity in cancer patients". Cancer. 85 (5): 1186–1196. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-0142(19990301)85:5<1186::AID-CNCR24>3.0.CO;2-N. ISSN 1097-0142.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Brief Fatigue Inventory: English". Oncology Nursing Society. Retrieved December 29, 2021.
  3. Institute of Medicine (2015). "Questionnaires and Tools That May Be Useful for Assessing ME/CFS Symptoms". Beyond Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Redefining an Illness. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. pp. 269–272.