Trial reportThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2001
Chronic fatigue in general practice: economic evaluation of counselling versus cognitive behaviour therapy.
Trial report in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2001. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 50 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cost-effectiveness of Interventions for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis: A Systematic Review of Economic Evaluations.Applied health economics and health policy · 2021Pooled it
- Behavioural modification interventions for medically unexplained symptoms in primary care: systematic reviews and economic evaluation.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2020Pooled it
- Cost-effectiveness of interventions for medically unexplained symptoms: A systematic review.PloS one · 2018Pooled it
- Enhanced care by generalists for functional somatic symptoms and disorders in primary care.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2013Pooled it
- A systematic review of the unit costs of allied health and community services used by older people in Australia.BMC health services research · 2013Pooled it
- Counselling for mental health and psychosocial problems in primary care.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2011Pooled it
- Cognitive behaviour therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2008Pooled it
- Systematic review of mental health interventions for patients with common somatic symptoms: can research evidence from secondary care be extrapolated to primary care?BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2002Pooled it
- Trial
- Cost-effectiveness of chronic fatigue self-management versus usual care: a pilot randomized controlled trial.BMC family practice · 2014Trial
- Cost-effectiveness of counselling, graded-exercise and usual care for chronic fatigue: evidence from a randomised trial in primary care.BMC health services research · 2012Trial
- Trial
- Cost-effectiveness of guided self-help treatment for recurrent binge eating.Journal of consulting and clinical psychology · 2010Trial
- Chronic fatigue in general practice: is counselling as good as cognitive behaviour therapy? A UK randomised trial.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2001Trial
- The Use of Heart Rate Variability-Biofeedback (HRV-BF) as an Adjunctive Intervention in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CSF/ME) in Long COVID: Results of a Phase II Controlled Feasibility Trial.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Is It Useful to Question the Recovery Behaviour of Patients with ME/CFS or Long COVID?Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Work Rehabilitation and Medical Retirement for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patients. A Review and Appraisal of Diagnostic Strategies.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Review
- Treatment and management of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis: all roads lead to Rome.British journal of pharmacology · 2017Review
- Cost-Utility of Home-Based Fatigue Self-Management versus Usual Care for the Treatment of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.Fatigue : biomedicine, health & behavior · 2017Article
- The hidden cost of chronic fatigue to patients and their families.BMC health services research · 2010Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThere is a paucity of evidence relating to the cost-effectiveness of alternative treatment responses to chronic fatigue.
aimTo compare the relative costs and outcomes of counselling versus cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) provided in primary care settings for the treatment of fatigue. DESIGN OF STUDY: A randomised controlled trial incorporating a cost-consequences analysis.
settingOne hundred and twenty-nine patients from 10 general practices across London and the South Thames region who had experienced symptoms of fatigue for at least three months.
methodAn economic analysis was performed to measure costs of therapy, other use of health services, informal care-giving, and lost employment. The principal outcome measure was the Fatigue Questionnaire; secondary measures were the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and a social adjustment scale.
resultsAlthough the mean cost of treatment was higher for the CBT group (164 Pounds, standard deviation = 67) than the counselling group (109 Pounds, SD = 49; 95% confidence interval = 35 to 76, P < 0.001), a comparison of change scores between baseline and six-month assessment revealed no statistically significant differences between the two groups in terms of aggregate health care costs, patient and family costs or incremental cost-effectiveness (cost per unit of improvement on the fatigue score).
conclusionsCounselling and CBT both led to improvements in fatigue and related symptoms, while slightly reducing informal care and lost productivity costs. Counselling represents a less costly (and more widely available) intervention but no overall cost-effectiveness advantage was found for either form of therapy.
Indexed as
Identifiers
11271867PMC1313893W2140710161What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.