Lillebeth Larun

Lillebeth Larun is a researcher and health reviewer in Norway with an interest in chronic fatigue syndrome. Larun is affliated with the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and author of Cochrane Collaboration reviews for exercise therapy in patients with CFS.

Notable studies

 * 2008, Cognitive behaviour therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome in adults


 * Withdrawn: 2014, Exercise therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome (individual patient data)


 * 2016, Exercise therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome


 * 2017, Exercise as treatment for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome

PhD thesis on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Lillebeth Larun's theseis included three prior publications in support of the thesis, one of which used the PACE trial as a reference on support of her conclusion about exercise:
 * 2011, Kronisk utmattelsessyndrom. Kunnskap, aktivitet og utfordringer.
 * 2001 Treningsbehandling ved knonisk utmattelsessyndrom.
 * 2007 Identity and coping experiences in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A synthesis of qualitative studies. (Full text)
 * 2011 Finding the right balance of physical activity. A focus group study about experiences among patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. (Abstract)

Exercise therapy
Larun's PhD involved a number of aspects of research into chronic fatigue syndrome, mostly in regard to the effects of exercise; she concluded chronic fatigue syndrome patients found exercise both enjoyable and beneficial, provided that it was guided by them and flexible. In addition, she found no adverse effects, although this study relied on only a small number of patients, with either mild or moderate symptoms.

Cochrane review controversy
Lillebeth Larun was lead author for the Cochrane Collaboration review of exercise therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome, which has faced extensive calls for retraction from both scientists and patients, particularly after the publication of the PACE trial data that the influenced the conclusions. In addition to scientific complaints made by professionals including Professor James Coyne, and by Robert Courtney, a patient with ME/CFS submitted a number of queries followed by a complaint containing a scientific critique of Larun et al's review,  focusing on how the methodology did not meet the Cochrane strict requirements. A further controversy was the Cochrane Collaboration's decision to allocate the review to Cochrane's Common Mental Disorders Group, although it also appears in the neurological Category.

Online presence

 * Twitter
 * Facebook
 * Website/Blog
 * YouTube

Learn more

 * Wikipedia
 * Cochrane and conflict of interest