Let’s talk about a controversial medical PACE trial to treat myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)! It has been found that PACE trial is harmful, not reliable and scientifically worthless. However, it still has a significant and negative impact on ME patients.
In their study, researchers of the PACE trial claimed that graded exercise therapy (GET) and cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) were moderately effective ways to treat the condition. Furthermore, they concluded that these treatments helped the estimated 250,000 sufferers of ME, despite ME symptoms such as unrelenting fatigue and profound pain that can be exacerbated by physical exertion.
Unfortunately, the PACE trial dominates clinical policy worldwide and has had a significant international impact on popular perceptions of the disease and public policies toward treating and researching it.
Finally, after a long battle, unpublished data from the PACE trial was released and independently reanalyzed. The new reanalysis found that the benefits reported from GET and CBT are modest and not statistically reliable. Despite the statement of the PACE trial authors that “twice as many people on graded exercise therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy got back to normal“, implementation of CBT and GET has shown that majority of patients had their symptoms worsen after a course of GET. Some of them become housebound and bedbound because of conducting the PACE trial. Severe risks to clinical patient safety are caused by unsound claims about the efficacy of CBT and GET following the PACE trial.
So, STOP, screw and Fu**k CBT and GET for ME!
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