GETSET trial

The GETSET trial (short for Graded Exercise Therapy Guided Self-Help Trial for Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) was a trial investigating the effectiveness of "guided graded exercise self-help" in patients with CFS/ME. The protocol was published in June 2016. The results were published in June 2017.

Researchers
Lead Author Lucy Clark, Peter White, Francesca Pesola, Janice M Thomas,  Mario Vergara-Williamson and Michelle Beynon

Funding
The trial was funded in full by the National Institute for Health Research's Research for Patient Benefit programme.

Protocol
The protocol of the trial was published in JMIR Research Protocols in June 2016.

Publications
The results were published on 22 June 2017 in the Lancet: Guided graded exercise self-help plus specialist medical care versus specialist medical care alone for chronic fatigue syndrome (GETSET): a pragmatic randomised controlled trial 

Commentary was provided by Daniel Clauw in the Lancet: Guided graded exercise self-help as a treatment of fatigue in chronic fatigue syndrome.

The Science Media Centre provided:  Expert reaction to study on guided self-help graded exercise therapy as a treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

It was reported in the Telegraph as Exercise can help chronic fatigue syndrome, study shows and other media outlets: Defeating chronic fatigue thanks to guided self-help approach to exercise.

The long term follow-up results were published July 2021 in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research: Guided graded exercise self-help for chronic fatigue syndrome: Long term follow up and cost-effectiveness following the GETSET trial.

Criticism
Dr David Tuller criticized the trial in the blog post Trial by Error, Continued: More on Graded Exercise from Peter White and The Lancet. Tuller later also criticized misleading presentation of the long term follow-up results, which presented the results as demonstrating sustained improvement, despite them finding a lack of significant difference between the treated and untreated groups. The paper was subsequently revised in response to this criticism.

Spoonseekerdotcom has criticised the GETSET trial.

Professor Jonathan Edwards criticised the study for its "incompetent level of science".

The ME Association also criticised the trial in ME Association Review: GETSET fails to demonstrate GET can significantly improve physical function.

Additional criticism has been published by other patients.

Documents

 * Lead author Lucy Clark had previously published a booklet called Graded Exercise Therapy - A self-help guide for those with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis.  This booklet was apparently distributed to patients in the GETSET trial.

Learn more

 * A few notes on GETSET - Spoonseekerdotcom
 * Graded exercise therapy
 * Biopsychosocial model