Online treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome to be tested in new study

A new online-enabled treatment method for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is to be trialled in a UK study.

More than 700 children and young people will take part in this study, which will be the largest clinical trial ever undertaken for CFS, also known as myalgic encephalopathy (ME), which affects up to two per cent of young people.

Recruitment to the trial has commenced this week and will investigate whether the FITNET-NHS treatment option is effective and offers value for money compared to another approach known as Activity Management.

The FITNET-NHS approach delivers cognitive behavioural therapy and their parents using e-consultations, allowing children to be treated at home. A study in the Netherlands in 2012 showed 63 percent recovered at six months, compared to eight percent of those receiving usual care.

This trial will determine whether this approach is cost-effective for the NHS and find out whether treatment works for children with CFS/ME who develop problems with low mood or anxiety.

Lead investigator Esther Crawley, professor of child health at the University of Bristol's school of social and community medicine, said: "Children with CFS/ME are desperate for specialist treatment and we need to think of new ways to deliver it."

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