Validity assessment of the PROMIS fatigue domain among people living with HIV

PURPOSE: To evaluate psychometric characteristics and cross-sectional and longitudinal validity of the 7-item PROMIS(®) Fatigue Short Form and additional fatigue items among people living with HIV (PLWH) in a nationally distributed network of clinics collecting patient reported data at the time of routine clinical care. METHODS: Cross-sectional and longitudinal fatigue data were collected from September 2012 through April 2013 across clinics participating in the Centers for AIDS Research Network of Integrated Clinical Systems (CNICS). We analyzed data regarding psychometric characteristics including simulated computerized adaptive testing and differential item functioning, and regarding associations with clinical characteristics. RESULTS: We analyzed data from 1597 PLWH. Fatigue was common in this cohort. Scores from the PROMIS(®) Fatigue Short Form and from the item bank had acceptable psychometric characteristics and strong evidence for validity, but neither performed better than shorter instruments already integrated in CNICS. CONCLUSIONS: The PROMIS(®) Fatigue Item Bank is a valid approach to measuring fatigue in clinical care settings among PLWH, but in our analyses did not perform better than instruments associated with less respondent burden. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12981-017-0146-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.