Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 May 26:2011:1101.

Chronic fatigue syndrome

Steven Reid  1 , Trudie Chalder, Anthony Cleare, Matthew Hotopf, Simon Wessely
Affiliations

Chronic fatigue syndrome

Steven Reid et al. BMJ Clin Evid. .

Abstract

Introduction: Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) affects between 0.006% and 3% of the population depending on the criteria of definition used, with women being at higher risk than men.

Methods and outcomes: We conducted a systematic review and aimed to answer the following clinical question: What are the effects of treatments for chronic fatigue syndrome? We searched: Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library, and other important databases up to March 2010 (Clinical Evidence reviews are updated periodically; please check our website for the most up-to-date version of this review). We included harms alerts from relevant organisations such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Results: We found 46 systematic reviews, RCTs, or observational studies that met our inclusion criteria. We performed a GRADE evaluation of the quality of evidence for interventions.

Conclusions: In this systematic review we present information relating to the effectiveness and safety of the following interventions: antidepressants, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), corticosteroids, dietary supplements, evening primrose oil, galantamine, graded exercise therapy, homeopathy, immunotherapy, intramuscular magnesium, oral nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, and prolonged rest.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Fukuda K, Straus S, Hickie I, et al. The chronic fatigue syndrome: a comprehensive approach to its definition and study. International Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Study Group. Ann Intern Med 1994;121:953–959. - PubMed
    1. Sharpe M, Archard LC, Banatvala JE, et al. A report – chronic fatigue syndrome: guidelines for research. J R Soc Med 1991;84:118–121. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lloyd AR, Hickie I, Boughton CR, et al. Prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome in an Australian population. Med J Aust 1990;153:522–528. - PubMed
    1. Reeves WC, Lloyd A, Vernon S D, et al. Identification of ambiguities in the 1994 chronic fatigue syndrome research case definition and recommendations for resolution. BMC Health Services Research 2003;3:25. Available online at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6963/3/25 (last accessed 02 February 2011). - PMC - PubMed
    1. Afari N, Buchwald D. Chronic fatigue syndrome: a review. Am J Psychiatry 2003;160:221–236. - PubMed

Publication types