CEO comment on early intervention study for CFS
May 18, 2020
A paper has been published, reporting on an unsuccessful feasibility study of early intervention to prevent CFS in adults.
It concludes: "A randomised controlled trial to test an early intervention for fatigue in adults in primary care is not feasible using this intervention and recruitment strategy."
While not directly involved, Action for M.E. is credited in the paper as providing "advice and support." Sonya Chowdhury, Chief Executive, Action for M.E. says:
"I am not able to comment on the intention behind Action for M.E.’s involvement in this study, designed to test treatment for people reporting fatigue of one to four months’ duration, as it commenced prior to my arrival and online records do not indicate this. There may be further hard copy records in the office which we are not able to access currently.
"Action for M.E.’s Chief Executive at the time provided a letter of support to the project on 11 January 2011 and commented on the ‘Research for Public Benefit’ form submitted as part of the application. A member of staff attended a small number of research team meetings to offer support. The study did not succeed and would not be the type of study that Action for M.E. would support now."
As set out in Action for M.E.’s 2016 - 2021 strategy, our work in the research field now focuses on:
- working closely with the UK CFS/M.E. Research Collaborative
- working with people affected by M.E. to ensure their voices, views and experience play a lead role in driving research forward, including as part of the ME/CFS Priority Setting Partnership
- actively exploring opportunities to secure funding for a big data research study, including as part of the M.E./CFS Biomedical Partnership
- investing in pilot research projects to bring new researchers to the field, including PhD studentships focused on biomedical M.E. research.
