Patients were not representative of all patients with the syndrome

BMJ 1996;312:1096-1097 (27 April)

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Patients were not representative of all patients with the syndrome

EDITOR,--Michael Sharpe and colleagues conclude that cognitivebehaviour therapy leads to a sustained reduction in functionalimpairment for patients with the chronic fatigue syndrome.¹The levels of disability of the 60 patients who took part inthe study suggest, however, that these patients do not representa comprehensive cross section of patients with the syndrome.The 60 patients scored 60-78 on the Karnofsky scale assessingdisability and so represent a different population from the143 patients reported on by Case History Research on ME (myalgicencephalomyelitis), who would have scored 30-60 (R Gibbons etal, first world congress on chronic fatigue syndrome and relateddisorders, Brussels, Nov 1995). Fifty nine of these 143 patientsreported functional deterioration after sustained, incrementallyincreased physical exertion.

The authors did not assess other symptoms common in the chronicfatigue syndrome, such as pain, nausea, muscle weakness, orbalance problems--a measure of the reduction of . . . [Full text of this article]

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Relevant Article

Cognitive behaviour therapy for the chronic fatigue syndrome: a randomised controlled trial: Michael Sharpe, Keith Hawton, Sue Simkin, Christina Surawy, Ann Hackmann, Ivana Klimes, Tim Peto, David Warrell, and Valerie Seagroatt
BMJ 1996 312: 22-26. [Abstract] [Full Text]