%0 Journal Article
%T Complementary and alternative medicine for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: A systematic review
%A Terje Alraek
%A Myeong Lee
%A Tae-Young Choi
%A Huijuan Cao
%A Jianping Liu
%J BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1472-6882-11-87
%X Seventeen data sources were searched up to 13th August 2011. All randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of any type of CAM therapy used for treating CFS were included, with the exception of acupuncture and complex herbal medicines; studies were included regardless of blinding. Controlled clinical trials, uncontrolled observational studies, and case studies were excluded.A total of 26 RCTs, which included 3,273 participants, met our inclusion criteria. The CAM therapy from the RCTs included the following: mind-body medicine, distant healing, massage, tuina and tai chi, homeopathy, ginseng, and dietary supplementation. Studies of qigong, massage and tuina were demonstrated to have positive effects, whereas distant healing failed to do so. Compared with placebo, homeopathy also had insufficient evidence of symptom improvement in CFS. Seventeen studies tested supplements for CFS. Most of the supplements failed to show beneficial effects for CFS, with the exception of NADH and magnesium.The results of our systematic review provide limited evidence for the effectiveness of CAM therapy in relieving symptoms of CFS. However, we are not able to draw firm conclusions concerning CAM therapy for CFS due to the limited number of RCTs for each therapy, the small sample size of each study and the high risk of bias in these trials. Further rigorous RCTs that focus on promising CAM therapies are warranted.Throughout the world, patients with chronic diseases tend to be high utilisers of health care resources and/or the health care system. Such patients are also frequent users of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) services, which are present either within or outside the National Health Service. The reasons for using CAM are diverse; however, hope, engagement in one's own health and positive expectations of treatment efficacy are nearly always present. Patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) are no exception. CFS is a challenging illness for patients, as well as those close
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/11/87