Trial reportPsychological medicine2013
Recovery from chronic fatigue syndrome after treatments given in the PACE trial.
Trial report in Psychological medicine, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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
38 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 123 citations in OpenAlex.
- The evidence base for physiotherapy in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome when considering post-exertional malaise: a systematic review and narrative synthesis.Journal of translational medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Post stroke intervention trial in fatigue (POSITIF): Randomised multicentre feasibility trial.Clinical rehabilitation · 2022Trial
- Rethinking the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome-a reanalysis and evaluation of findings from a recent major trial of graded exercise and CBT.BMC psychology · 2018Trial
- Testing the efficacy of web-based cognitive behavioural therapy for adult patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CBIT): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.BMC neurology · 2015Trial
- Investigating neural mechanisms of change of cognitive behavioural therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome: a randomized controlled trial.BMC psychiatry · 2015Trial
- Recovery from chronic fatigue syndrome: a reflexive thematic analysis of experiences of people before, during and after treatment.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2025Article
- Comparative efficacy of various exercise therapies for chronic fatigue syndrome: A systematic review and network meta-analysis.iScience · 2025Article
- Design and validation of an energy level diary for fatigue management in patients with post-COVID syndrome.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2025Article
- Effectiveness of Exercise-Based Rehabilitation in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.International journal of exercise science · 2025Review
- Research progress in the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome through interventions targeting the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Review
- Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: the biology of a neglected disease.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Review
- A scoping review of 'Pacing' for management of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): lessons learned for the long COVID pandemic.Journal of translational medicine · 2023Article
- The Draft Report by the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Healthcare Does Not Provide Any Evidence That Graded Exercise Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Are Safe and Effective Treatments for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Sick of the Sick Role: Narratives of What "Recovery" Means to People With CFS/ME.Qualitative health research · 2021Article
- Rethinking the Standard of Care for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.Journal of general internal medicine · 2020Article
- Approaching recovery from myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome: Challenges to consider in research and practice.Journal of health psychology · 2019Article
- Post-Exertional Malaise Is Associated with Hypermetabolism, Hypoacetylation and Purine Metabolism Deregulation in ME/CFS Cases.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Article
- Differential diagnosis between "chronic fatigue" and "chronic fatigue syndrome".Integrative medicine research · 2019Article
- Response: Sharpe, Goldsmith and Chalder fail to restore confidence in the PACE trial findings.BMC psychology · 2019Article
- The PACE trial of treatments for chronic fatigue syndrome: a response to WILSHIRE et al.BMC psychology · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundA multi-centre, four-arm trial (the PACE trial) found that rehabilitative cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET) were more effective treatments for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) than specialist medical care (SMC) alone, when each was added to SMC, and more effective than adaptive pacing therapy (APT) when added to SMC. In this study we compared how many participants recovered after each treatment.
methodWe defined recovery operationally using multiple criteria, and compared the proportions of participants meeting each individual criterion along with two composite criteria, defined as (a) recovery in the context of the trial and (b) clinical recovery from the current episode of the illness, however defined, 52 weeks after randomization. We used logistic regression modelling to compare treatments.
resultsThe percentages (number/total) meeting trial criteria for recovery were 22% (32/143) after CBT, 22% (32/143) after GET, 8% (12/149) after APT and 7% (11/150) after SMC. Similar proportions met criteria for clinical recovery. The odds ratio (OR) for trial recovery after CBT was 3.36 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.64–6.88] and for GET 3.38 (95% CI 1.65–6.93), when compared to APT, and after CBT 3.69 (95% CI 1.77–7.69) and GET 3.71 (95% CI 1.78–7.74), when compared to SMC (p values < or =0.001 for all comparisons). There was no significant difference between APT and SMC. Similar proportions recovered in trial subgroups meeting different definitions of the illness.
conclusionsThis study confirms that recovery from CFS is possible, and that CBT and GET are the therapies most likely to lead to recovery.
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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.