Controversy regarding the aetiology and treatment of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome continues among the medical professions. The Cochrane Collaboration advises practitioners to implement graded exercise therapy for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome using cognitive behavioural principles. Conversely, there is evidence that exercise can exacerbate symptoms in chronic fatigue syndrome...

The idea that chronic fatigue has an infectious origin has become popular, but the main evidence for such an association has come from retrospective case-control studies, which are subject to ascertainment bias. We report a prospective study of the outcome of clinically diagnosed infections in patients presenting to UK general practitioners. Questionnaires assessing fatigue and psychiatric morb...

BACKGROUND Fatigue is a crucial sensation that triggers rest, yet its underlying neuronal mechanisms remain unclear. Intense long-term fatigue is a symptom of chronic fatigue syndrome, which is used as a model to study the mechanisms underlying fatigue. METHODS Using magnetic resonance imaging, we conducted voxel-based morphometry of 16 patients and 49 age-matched healthy control subjects. ...

OBJECTIVES To compare general practitioners' perceptions of chronic fatigue syndrome and irritable bowel syndrome and to consider the implications of their perceptions for treatment. DESIGN Qualitative analysis of transcripts of group discussions. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING A randomly selected sample of 46 general practitioners in England. RESULTS The participants tended to stereotype patie...

 Prim Health Care Res Dev. 2013 May 23:1-13. [Epub ahead of print] Diagnosis and management of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalitis in black and minority ethnic people: a qualitative study. Bayliss K, Riste L, Fisher L, Wearden A, Peters S, Lovell K, Chew-Graham C. Source1Research Associate, Institute of Population Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. Abstract Aim This st...

Objectives To compare general practitioners’ perceptions of chronic fatigue syndrome and irritable bowel syndrome and to consider the implications of their perceptions for treatment. Design Qualitative analysis of transcripts of group discussions. Participants and setting A randomly selected sample of 46 general practitioners in England. Results The participants tended to stereotype patients wi...