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The British Journal of Psychiatry (2004) 184: 142-146
© 2004 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Patient education to encourage graded exercise in chronic fatigue syndrome

2-year follow-up of randomised controlled trial

Pauline Powell, PhD, Richard P. Bentall, PhD, Fred J. Nye, MD FRCP and Richard H. T. Edwards, MB PhD FRCP

Department of Psychology, University of Manchester, UK

Correspondence: Professor Richard Bentall, Department of Psychology,University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL,UK. E-mail: bentall{at}psy.man.ac.uk

Declaration of interest None.

Funding detailed in Acknowledgements.

Background An earlier trial demonstrated good outcomes after 1 year for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) who received an educational intervention designed to encourage graded activity.

Aims To determine 2-year outcomes for the same treated patients and the response to treatment of patients formerly in the control condition.

Method Patients in the treatment groups (n=114) were followed up at 2 years; 32 patients from the control group were offered the intervention after 1 year and were assessed 1 year later. Assessments were the self-rated measures used in the original trial.

Results At 2 years 63 of the treated patients (55%) no longer fulfilled trial criteria for CFS compared with 64 patients (56%) at 1 year. Fourteen of 30 crossover patients (47%) achieved a good outcome at 1 year and seven (23%) no longer fulfilled criteria for CFS.

Conclusions Benefits of the intervention were maintained at 2 years. Delaying treatment is associated with reduced efficacy and required more intensive therapy.


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