By David Tuller, DrPH I recently posted a blog about the protocol for a Canadian Long COVID exercise trial in which the investigators proposed lying to the participants about the nature of both the study and the intervention being assessed. While acknowledging that a significant number of people with Long COVID report experiencing post-exertional malaise …
By David Tuller, DrPH According to the headline of a recent article in The Sick Times, “less than 20% of Long COVID trials involving exercise even mention post-exertional malaise.” The news organization analyzed the registration records for Long COVID clinical trials and found that only a small minority assess or take into account post-exertional malaise (PEM), …
By David Tuller, DrPH A recent study from JAMA Network Open, called “Resistance Exercise Therapy After COVID-19 Infection: A Randomized Clinical Trial,” demonstrates some of the flaws that so often mar papers in this field of research. The trial’s reported results do not warrant the optimistic conclusion that the intervention “may be a generalizable therapy …
Trial By Error: Another Exercise Trial with Clinically Insignificant Findings Read More »
By David Tuller, DrPH In a new paper, a team of investigators from the University of South Australia in Adelaide, Australia, describes a “pilot feasibility” trial for an ME/CFS intervention focused on physical activity. The trial fell dramatically short on recruitment efforts—a failure that the investigators appear to explicitly blame on the patient community rather …
By David Tuller, DrPH A journal under the Lancet umbrella, eClinicalMedicine, recently published a study from China called “Effects of therapeutic interventions on long COVID: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.” (I wrote about it here.) The authors themselves determined that most of the research they included was, to be charitable, on the crappy side. …
By David Tuller, DrPH Added: On X, @mecfsskeptic has posted a very useful thread explaining how loosely the investigators applied the meaning of “Long COVID” in accepting trials for their meta-analysis. ********** A Lancet journal, eClinicalMedicine, has just published a paper called “Effects of therapeutic interventions on long COVID: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.” …
