Treatments offer hope for chronic fatigue syndrome

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-10/uoo-toh102715.php

Public Release: 27-Oct-2015
Treatments offer hope for chronic fatigue syndrome
Follow-up to 2011 study shows two treatments offer improved outcomes
University of Oxford

Researchers have found that two treatments for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome have long term benefits for people affected by the condition.

The team from Oxford University, King's College London and Queen Mary University of London were following up patients who took part in a study published in 2011, funded by the Medical Research Council. In that study they looked at four potential treatments for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and found that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET) achieved better outcomes than standard medical care (SMC) and adaptive pacing therapy (APT) at one year.

In this study they contacted the people who took part in the original study to find out how they were fairing two and a half years after starting the treatments.

Three quarters of the original trial participants took part in the follow up. It showed that the improvements in fatigue and physical functioning seen at one year in the trial with CBT and GET were maintained in the long-term.

•••••