Table I.

The search profile applied in Medline being adapted for the other databases.

Outcome studies: 1 (Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic/or ((CFS adj3 (ME or SEID)) or myalgic encephalo* or chronic fatigue* or fatigue syndrom* or systemic exertion intolerance or PVFS or royal free disease* or akureyri disease or Iceland disease).tw,kf.) and ((randomis* or randomiz* or randomly or trial or intervention? or effect? or impact? or multicenter or multi centre or multicentre or multi centre or controlled or control group? or (before adj5 after) or (pre adj5 post) or ((pre-test or pre test) and (post-test or post test)) or quasiexperiment* or quasi experiment* or evaluat* or time series or time point? or repeated measur*).ti,ab. or ((treatment outcome/and follow up study/) or ((followup or follow up or longitud* or cohort*) and (treatment* or therap* or intervention* or management)).tw,kf. or (treatment* or therap* or intervention* or management).ti.)) 2 Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic/or ((CFS adj3 (ME or SEID)) or myalgic encephalo* or chronic fatigue* or fatigue syndrom* or systemic exertion intolerance or PVFS or royal free disease* or akureyri disease or Iceland disease).tw,kf. 3 limit 2 to (clinical study or clinical trial, all or clinical trial, phase i or clinical trial, phase ii or clinical trial, phase iii or clinical trial, phase iv or clinical trial or controlled clinical trial or randomized controlled trial) 4 limit 2 to “therapy (best balance of sensitivity and specificity)” 5 1 or 3 or 4 6 limit 5 to (english language and yr = “2009 -Current”) Qualitative studies about patients’ experiences: (Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic/or ((CFS adj3 (ME or SEID)) or myalgic encephalo* or chronic fatigue* or fatigue syndrom* or systemic exertion intolerance or PVFS or royal free disease* or akureyri disease or Iceland disease).tw,kf.) and ((((“semi-structured” or semistructured or unstructured or informal or “in-depth” or indepth or “face-to-face” or structured or guide) adj3 (interview* or discussion* or questionnaire*)) or (focus group* or qualitative or ethnograph* or ethnological or fieldwork or field work or field stud* or key informant or focus group* or narrat* or phenomenolog* or hermeneutical or ethonurs* or grounded theory)).tw,kf. or interviews as topic/or focus groups/or narration/or qualitative research/) Limited to English language and from January 2009 up till March 2020