Two effective treatments for CFS/ME are also cost-effective

Two treatments found previously to be the most effective for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome or myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) have now been found to be the most cost-effective treatments evaluated in a large clinical trial. The latest results from the PACE trial show that both cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET), as supplements to specialist medical care, offer good value for money for healthcare providers when the cost of treatment is weighed up against improvement in quality of life. CBT and GET were found to be even more cost-effective when the savings to wider society - through a reduced need for additional care by family members - were taken into account. Adaptive pacing therapy (APT) was not cost-effective. The research was led by King's College London, the University of Oxford and Queen Mary, University of London, and was funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC), National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and UK government departments. The findings are published in the journal PloS ONE . The researchers drew their conclusions in line with healthcare cost criteria used by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.