Table 1.

Summary of findings

Disease	Intervention	Drug class/type	No of RCTs	Impact on outcome	References
Rheumatoid arthritis	Prednisone	Glucocorticoids	1	Reduced fatigue	42
			1	No difference	44
	Tocilizumab	bDMARD	4	Reduced fatigue	45–48
	Etanercept	bDMARD	3	Reduced fatigue	43 49 50
	Certolizumab pegol	bDMARD	4	Reduced fatigue	51–54
	Adalimumab	bDMARD	4	Reduced fatigue	55–58
	Rituximab	bDMARD	5	Reduced fatigue	59–63
	Canakinumab	bDMARD	1	Unclear	64
	Tofacitinib	tsDMARD	6	Reduced fatigue	65–69 91
			1	Unclear	70
	Abatacept	bDMARD	4	Reduced fatigue	71–74
	Golimumab	bDMARD	4	Reduced fatigue	75–78
	Anti-TNF	bDMARD	1	Reduced fatigue	79
	Filgotinib	tsDMARD	2	Reduced fatigue	80 81
	Sarilumab	bDMARD	2	Reduced fatigue	82 83
			1	No difference	84
	Baricitinib	tsDMARD	5	Reduced fatigue	85–89
	Upadacitinib	tsDMARD	1	Reduced fatigue	90
Systemic lupus erythematosus	Dehydroepiandrosterone	Other	1	No difference	130
	Hydroxychloroquine	csDMARD	1	No difference	131
	Abatacept	bDMARD	1	Reduced fatigue	132
	Belimumab	bDMARD	2	Reduced fatigue	133 134
	Blisibimod	bDMARD	1	Reduced fatigue	135
	Tabalumab	bDMARD	1	No difference	136
	N-Acetylcysteine	Other	1	Reduced fatigue	137
Psoriatic arthritis	Certolizumab Pegol	bDMARD	1	Reduced fatigue	120
	Adalimumab	bDMARD	2	Reduced fatigue	121 122
	Secukinumab	bDMARD	1	Reduced fatigue	123
	Ustekinumab	bDMARD	1	Reduced fatigue	124
	Infliximab	bDMARD	1	Reduced fatigue	125
	Upadacitinib	tsDMARD	2	Reduced fatigue	126 127
	Tofacitinib	tsDMARD	2	Reduced fatigue	128 129
Sjogren’s syndrome	Rituximab	bDMARD	3	No difference	106–108
			1	Reduced fatigue	105
	Infliximab	bDMARD	1	No difference	109
	Dehydroepiandrosterone	Other	2	No difference	110 111
	Gammalinolenic acid	Other	1	No difference	112
	Doxycycline	Other	1	Increased fatigue	113
	RSLV-132	Other	1	Reduced fatigue	114
	Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist	bDMARD	1	No difference	115
	Total glucosides of peony	Other	1	Reduced fatigue	116
	Hydroxychloroquine	csDMARD	2	No difference	117 118
	Ianalumab	bDMARD	1	Reduced fatigue	119
Spondyloarthritis (excluding psoriatic arthritis)	Etanercept	bDMARD	3	Reduced fatigue	92 93 95
			2	No difference	94 96
	Certolizumab pegol	bDMARD	1	Reduced fatigue	97
	Adalimumab	bDMARD	1	Reduced fatigue	98
	Secukinumab	bDMARD	3	Reduced fatigue	99–101
	Probiotic therapy	Other	1	No difference	102
	Ixekizumab	bDMARD	1	No difference	103
	Infliximab	bDMARD	1	Reduced fatigue	104
Systemic sclerosis	Tocilizumab	bDMARD	1	No difference	138
Inflammatory myopathies	Creatine supplements	Other	1	No difference	139
Giant cell arteritis	Tocilizumab	bDMARD	1	Reduced fatigue	140

Green colour indicates ‘reduced fatigue’, yellow indicates ‘no difference’ and red indicates ‘increased fatigue’ when compared with the control group.

Reduced fatigue—there was a statistically significant decrease in the fatigue outcome between study arms in the original studies or/and the difference has moderate magnitude; No difference—there was no statistically significant difference in the fatigue outcome between study arms in the original studies; Unclear—there was a statistically significant difference in the fatigue outcome between study arms in the original studies and the difference has a weak magnitude and the results are from individual RCTs; Increased fatigue—there is a statistically significant increase in the fatigue outcome between study arms in the original studies.

bDMARD, biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drug; csDMARD, conventional synthetic DMARD; RCT, randomised controlled trial; tsDMARD, targeted synthetic DMARD.