METHODS

Design:

randomised, placebo controlled trial.

Allocation:

concealed.*

Blinding:

blinded {patients, clinicians, data collectors, and outcome assessors}†.*

Follow up period:

1 month.

Setting:

an academic primary care centre and 8 private general practices in western Switzerland.

Patients:

144 women 18–55 years of age (mean age 35 y, based on n = 136) whose primary reason for consulting was fatigue. Exclusion criteria: anaemia (haemoglobin concentration <117 g/l), other obvious physical or psychiatric causes of fatigue, or chronic fatigue syndrome.

Interventions:

oral, long acting …