E2 ModerateModerate confidencePEM unclearCross-SectionalPeer-reviewedMachine draft
Complementary and alternative medical therapy utilization by people with chronic fatiguing illnesses in the United States.
Jones, James F, Maloney, Elizabeth M, Boneva, Roumiana S et al. · BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2007 · DOI
Quick Summary
This study looked at how many people with ME/CFS and similar fatiguing illnesses use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies like massage, chiropractic care, prayer, and other non-conventional treatments. Researchers surveyed over 880 people across the United States and found that people with ME/CFS-like illness were more likely to use body-based therapies (like massage and chiropractic) and mind-body therapies than people without fatigue.
Why It Matters
This study provides epidemiological data on CAM utilization patterns in ME/CFS populations, which is important for understanding patient healthcare-seeking behaviors and informing provider education. The findings highlight that body-based and mind-body therapies are particularly common in ME/CFS, suggesting these should be evaluated in clinical research and discussed with patients.
Observed Findings
- People with CFS-like illness used body-based therapies (chiropractic, massage) at 2.5 times the rate of non-fatigued controls (OR=2.52, CI=1.32-4.82)
- Body-based therapy use showed a linear dose-response trend across fatigue severity groups (p-trend=0.002)
- Mind-body therapy (primarily prayer) was the most frequently used CAM across all groups
- Women showed a significant trend of increasing overall CAM use with increasing fatigue severity (p-trend=0.003)
- All CAM categories were associated with significantly poorer physical health scores
Inferred Conclusions
- CAM utilization is more common in people with ME/CFS-like illness and chronic fatigue than in non-fatigued persons, particularly for body-based and mind-body therapies
- The linear trend of increasing CAM use across fatigue severity groups suggests a dose-response relationship between illness burden and CAM seeking
- CAM use is largely driven by underlying health conditions and poor physical and mental health status rather than fatigue severity alone
Remaining Questions
- Does CAM use provide any clinical benefit to ME/CFS patients, or are patients seeking these therapies without evidence of efficacy?
- What specific factors motivate ME/CFS patients to choose particular CAM modalities (e.g., body-based vs. mind-body therapies)?
What This Study Does Not Prove
This study does not prove that CAM therapies cause poor health outcomes or vice versa—the association between CAM use and worse physical/mental health scores likely reflects that sicker patients seek more treatments. The cross-sectional design cannot establish causality, and the small CFS-like illness sample (n=49) may not represent the full ME/CFS population.
Tags
Symptom:Fatigue
Method Flag:Weak Case DefinitionMixed Cohort
Metadata
- DOI
- 10.1186/1472-6882-7-12
- PMID
- 17459162
- Review status
- Machine draft
- Evidence level
- Single-study or moderate support from human research
- Last updated
- 8 April 2026
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
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