Psychometric properties of the Pittsburgh Fatigability Scale for assessing physical and mental fatigability in Brazilian older adults (PFS-Brasil)

Santos, M.S.B.; Bento-Torres, J.; Santana, L.L.; Costa, A.A. da; Gesta, I.P.P.C.; Silva, L.M.; Picanço-Diniz, C.W.; Glynn, N.W.; Bento-Torres, N.V.O.

doi:10.1590/1414-431X2025e14619

person M.S.B. Santos

Data curation (Equal) · Formal analysis (Equal) · Investigation (Equal) · Writing - original draft (Equal) · Writing - review & editing (Equal)

schoolPrograma de Pós-Graduação em Ciências do Movimento Humano, Laboratório de Investigações em Neurodegeneração e Infecção, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, PA, Brasil

0000-0001-8031-1260

person J. Bento-Torres

Formal analysis (Supporting) · Supervision (Supporting) · Writing - original draft (Equal) · Writing - review & editing (Supporting)

schoolPrograma de Pós-Graduação em Ciências do Movimento Humano, Laboratório de Investigações em Neurodegeneração e Infecção, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, PA, Brasil

0000-0002-9155-9445

person L.L. Santana

Investigation (Equal) · Methodology (Equal) · Writing - original draft (Equal) · Writing - review & editing (Equal)

schoolPrograma de Pós-Graduação em Ciências do Movimento Humano, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, PA, Brasil

0000-0002-3369-8404

person A.A. da Costa

Investigation (Equal) · Writing - original draft (Equal) · Writing - review & editing (Equal)

schoolLaboratório de Investigações em Neurodegeneração e Infecção, Faculdade de Fisioterapia e Terapia Ocupacional, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Pará, Brasil

0009-0008-4646-603X

person I.P.P.C. Gesta

Data curation (Equal) · Methodology (Equal) · Writing - original draft (Equal) · Writing - review & editing (Equal)

schoolLaboratório de Investigações em Neurodegeneração e Infecção, Faculdade de Fisioterapia e Terapia Ocupacional, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Pará, Brasil

0009-0005-5259-5952

person L.M. Silva

Conceptualization (Equal) · Investigation (Equal) · Writing - original draft (Equal) · Writing - review & editing (Equal)

schoolLaboratório de Investigações em Neurodegeneração e Infecção, Faculdade de Fisioterapia e Terapia Ocupacional, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Pará, Brasil

0009-0002-9361-5508

person C.W. Picanço-Diniz

Conceptualization (Equal) · Resources (Equal) · Writing - original draft (Equal) · Writing - review & editing (Equal)

schoolPrograma de Pós-Graduação em Neurociência e Biologia Celular, Laboratório de Investigações em Neurodegeneração e Infecção, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Pará, Brasil

0000-0001-6611-6880

person N.W. Glynn

Conceptualization (Equal) · Resources (Supporting) · Supervision (Supporting) · Writing - original draft (Equal) · Writing - review & editing (Equal)

schoolDepartment of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

0000-0003-2265-0162

person N.V.O. Bento-Torres

Conceptualization (Lead) · Data curation (Lead) · Formal analysis (Supporting) · Investigation (Supporting) · Project administration (Lead) · Resources (Equal) · Supervision (Lead) · Validation (Equal) · Visualization (Equal) · Writing - original draft (Equal) · Writing - review & editing (Equal)

schoolPrograma de Pós-Graduação em Ciências do Movimento Humano, Laboratório de Investigações em Neurodegeneração e Infecção, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, PA, Brasil

0000-0003-0978-211X

personCorrespondence: N.V.O. Bento-Torres: <
emailnatalivalim@ufpa.br>

Editor

Alessandra C. Goularthttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-1076-5210 and Section Editor Iolanda de Fátima L.C. Tibériohttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5662-7895

Conflicts of Interest

None declared.

Characteristics	Validation sample (n=121)
Age (years)	70.3±6.4
Female	104 (86.0)
Marital status
Married	40 (33.1)
Single/Divorced	45 (37.2)
Widow	36 (29.7)
Education	12±4.7
1-4 years of education	12 (10.0)
5-8 years of education	17 (14.0)
9-12 years of education	28 (23.1)
13-16 years of education	42 (34.7)
≥17 years of education	22 (18.2)
Racial groups
White	20 (16.5)
Black	16 (13.2)
Multiracial	83 (68.6)
Other	2 (1.7)
Body mass index (BMI, kg/m²)	29.2±4.9
Eutrophy	28 (23.1)
Overweight	44 (36.4)
Obesity	49 (40.5)
Fatigability score
PFS-Brasil Physical score	15.0±9.3
PFS-Brasil Mental score	7.8±7.7
More severe physical fatigability*	65 (53.7)
More severe mental fatigability*	33 (27.3)

Items	Item description	Physical Fatigability Subscale		Mental Fatigability Subscale
		Factor 1	Factor 2	Factor 1	Factor 2
A	Leisurely walk for 30 min	0.742		0.683
B	Brisk or fast walking for 1 h	0.700		0.785
C	Light household activity for 1 h	0.693		0.851
D	Heavy gardening or outdoor work for 1 h	0.775		0.777
G	Moderate- to high-intensity strength training for 30 min	0.795		0.793
J	High-intensity activity for 30 min	0.746		0.799
E	Watching TV for 2 h		0.298		0.625
F	Sitting quietly for 1 h		0.350		0.575
H	Participating in a social activity for 1 h		0.797		0.783
I	Hosting a social event for 1 h		0.836		0.688

	χ² (df)	χ²/df	CFI	TLI	RMSEA
Physical Fatigability Subscale	48.55 (34)	1.42	0.95	0.93	0.07
Mental Fatigability Subscale	35.06 (34)	1.03	1.00	0.99	0.02

Instruments	Spearman Correlation
	Mean±SD	Physical subscale score	Mental subscale score
Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) (Total score, 0-12)	11.1±1.1	-0.22*	-0.20**
Gait speed (m/s)	1.40±0.5	-0.35***	-0.21*
5-chair stand (s)	11.3±3.4	0.21**	0.30***
Balance (points)	3.9±0.3	-0.13	-0.08
Six-minute walk test (meters)	467.3±88.5	-0.37***	-0.25**
Body mass index (BMI)	29.1±4.9	0.19**	0.13
Physical Activity (IPAQ) (MET-min/week)
Walking	536.9±1.244.3	-0.10	-0.002
Moderate physical activity	2569.4±12.062.6	-0.10	-0.10
Vigorous physical activity	517.4±767.9	-0.09	-0.14
Total physical activity	5111.0±13168.2	-0.19*	-0.13
Trail Making Test
Trail A (s)	79.8±42.5	0.13	0.12
Trail B (s)	193.7±85.4	0.02	-0.03
Flanker Test
Response Time - Correct responses - Congruent condition (ms)	575.4±74.3	0.08	0.06
Response Time - Correct responses - Incongruent condition (ms)	598.71±85.4	-0.02	0.01
Total Correct - Congruent condition (n)	53.79±24.5	-0.14	-0.18*
Total Correct - Incongruent condition (n)	51.04±24.6	-0.14	-0.20*
Conflict Cost	27.07±83.9	-0.08	-0.80
Mini-Mental State Examination (0-30 points)	27.9±2.2	-0.12	0.01

[TFN01t01] Data are reported as means±SD or n (%). *More severe physical fatigability was defined as ≥15 points on the PFS, and greater mental fatigability was defined as ≥13 points on the PFS. PFS: Pittsburgh Fatigability Scale.

Psychometric properties of the Pittsburgh Fatigability Scale for assessing physical and mental fatigability in Brazilian older adults (PFS-Brasil)

Abstract