Cochrane ME/CFS GET review temporarily withdrawn

Tom Kindlon said:
Note that there are 2 separate reviews led by Larun et al. One involved individual patient data and has not so far been published. The other used pooled data. It was the only one, that has been published so presumably is to one that is being withdrawn (it is not possible to withdraw something that hasn't been published)
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I am fairly sure this is the first one from the April. The individual data one was sent out to review in the July and has not been seen since.
 
I wonder who raised the formal complaint with Tovey, as editor in chief, that he felt had to be listened to.

ETA: and what were the specific questions posed that the editors judged were so important?

See Reuters link.

ETA: “In an emailed response to questions from Reuters, Tovey said: “We are in discussion with the review author team about this review following a formal complaint to me as Cochrane’s editor in chief, which we judged to raise important questions.”
 
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I have heard on the grapevine a number of individuals put a lot of time and effort into reviewing the individual patient data Cochrane exercise for CFS review. I don't think that is the review that is being talked about in this article but I imagine the sort of comments raised made Tovey think, so thanks to them. :thumbup:
 
Dolphin said:
@Esther12 often discusses how it can be problematic to focus too much on the argument about whether it is "mental" or "physical". I'm not convinced that these issues should never be raised but this is a good example that they can backfire and distract from important issues.
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Sorry but I think you're being naive. They people that were interviewed want to save face and avoid publicly acknowledging the more serious problems. They would always find some way to misrepresent the critic position even if no patient ever expressed that they felt offended by the suggestion that thoughts and behaviour maintain the illness.

Trying to control what they say about critics by being good, well mannered and reasonable doesn't work. The key people will probably never admit for the rest of their lives that CBT/GET is a bogus treatment.
 
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Keela Too said:
Article was a bit rubbish
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Yes indeed, such as:

On treatments, evidence from at least 10 published studies — including the 2017 Cochrane Review — shows psychological approaches such as graded exercise and cognitive behavioral therapy can help some CFS/ME patients improve.

Yet critics say this amounts to a suggestion that the syndrome is a mental disorder, or “all in the mind”. They campaign fiercely to block or discredit any research looking at psychological or behavioral treatments, arguing that they are physically, not psychologically, debilitated.​

:banghead:

Nothing to do with the egregious methodological problems, obviously.
 
Emails seen by Reuters show editors at the influential Cochrane Review journal asking researchers who conducted the analysis, which was published in April 2017, to agree to it being temporarily withdrawn.
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Exercise therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome
Cochrane Systematic Review - Intervention Version published: 25 April 2017
https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD003200.pub7/full
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So not the individual patient data review, which involves the PACE Trial investigators, among others.

The pooled data review first came out a number of years ago and then gets updated when comments are submitted.
 
Tovey and Churchill said in their email to Larun that “in response to concerns raised by members of the CFS community” they are considering moving responsibility for research reviews on CFS/ME away from their mental health department into another section — possibly the “long-term conditions” section.
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If this happens, it will have many positive effects. :)
 
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