Traditional Chinese medicinal herbs for the treatment of idiopathic chronic fatigue and chronic fatigue syndrome.
BACKGROUND
Chronic fatigue is increasingly common. Conventional medical care is limited in treating chronic fatigue, leading some patients to use traditional Chinese medicine therapies, including herbal medicine.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the effectiveness of traditional Chinese medicine herbal products in treating idiopathic chronic fatigue and chronic fatigue syndrome.


METHODS
The following databases were searched for terms related to traditional Chinese medicine, chronic fatigue, and clinical trials: CCDAN Controlled Trials Register (July 2009), MEDLINE (1966-2008), EMBASE (1980-2008), AMED (1985-2008), CINAHL (1982-2008), PSYCHINFO (1985-2008), CENTRAL (Issue 2 2008), the Chalmers Research Group PedCAM Database (2004), VIP Information (1989-2008), CNKI (1976-2008), OCLC Proceedings First (1992-2008), Conference Papers Index (1982-2008), and Dissertation Abstracts (1980-2008). Reference lists of included studies and review articles were examined and experts in the field were contacted for knowledge of additional studies.


METHODS
Selection criteria included published or unpublished randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of participants diagnosed with idiopathic chronic fatigue or chronic fatigue syndrome comparing traditional Chinese medicinal herbs with placebo, conventional standard of care (SOC), or no treatment/wait lists. The outcome of interest was fatigue.


METHODS
13 databases were searched for RCTs investigating TCM herbal products for the treatment of chronic fatigue. Over 2400 references were located. Studies were screened and assessed for inclusion criteria by two authors.


RESULTS
No studies that met all inclusion criteria were identified.


CONCLUSIONS
Although studies examining the use of TCM herbal products for chronic fatigue were located, methodologic limitations resulted in the exclusion of all studies. Of note, many of the studies labelled as RCTs and conducted in China did not utilize rigorous randomization procedures. Improvements in methodology in future studies is required for meaningful synthesis of data.
Adams
Denise
D
CARE Program, Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, 8B19 11111 Jasper Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T5K 0L4.
Wu
Taixiang
T
Yang
Xunzhe
X
Tai
Shusheng
S
Vohra
Sunita
S
D002908:Chronic Disease; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005221:Fatigue / Q000188:drug therapy*; D015673:Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans
D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal