Action for M.E. issues second position statement on Lightning Process pilot in children 8 to 18
Shortlink: http://wp.me/p5foE-31M
Action for M.E. Second position statement
20 August 2010
Issued via Action for M.E. Facebook Wall
Action for M.E. is very concerned that the Lightning Process is being given to children in the UK without having been formally evaluated for effectiveness and safety.
Although the MRC ethics guide says that research involving children should only be carried out if it cannot feasibly be carried out on adults, there are exceptions eg. studies which aim to increase understanding of child health or shed light on a disease, its natural history and possibilities of prevention.
Before any research is approved, an ethics committee scrutinises the proposals to ensure that the rules about research involving children are satisfied. The committee also ensures that proper safety systems are in place and include safety monitoring by an independent committee.
As long as the ethics committee gives its approval, the charity supports proposals to investigate whether it is possible to set up a controlled trial to look at the Lightning Process and how it compares with current treatments for M.E./CFS in children.
Dr Esther Crawley is a Consultant Paediatrician specialising in CFS/M.E. and a leading researcher in the field. Together with Dr Margaret May and Dr Alan Emond, Dr Crawley has recently published new research on phenotypes of CFS/M.E. in children in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood.
They showed that there appear to be three different phenotypes: musculoskeletal (the main symptoms being muscle and joint pain), migraine and sore throat. None of the phenotypes were associated with age or length of illness suggesting that they did not merely reflect deconditioning. The lack of association with symptoms of depression or anxiety (with the exception of the migraine phenotype) also suggests that they are unlikely to reflect mood disorders.
At the end of March, Action for M.E.* had published this position statement on its Facebook Wall but not on its main website:
Action for M.E. sees no reason to oppose this pilot study.
As was made clear when it was announced, the research at this stage is simply a pilot designed to see if it would be possible to set up a trial that can independently assess the Lightning process against specialised medical care.
It is a fact that many parents are already taking their children to LP practitioners and so there are urgent questions that need to be addressed in order to assure the safety of those children. Dr Crawley’s initiative aspires to find a way of answering some of those questions.
*Sir Peter Spencer, CEO of Bristol based, Action for M.E., is a non-executive director of the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, NHS Foundation Trust – Dr Esther Crawley’s employer.
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