Placebo effects

People who believe that a treatment will help to relieve their symptoms may well experience improvements in their condition – even though the treatment, in fact, has no active ingredient.


JLL Essay
1.2 Why treatment comparisons are essential

 

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Papin D (1704)
123. Papin an Leibniz. In: Gerland E (1881) Leibnizens und Huygens’ Briefwechsel mit Papin. Berlin:Verlag der Koniglichen Akademie der Wissenschaften. p 328.

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Smellie W (1752)
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Pierce R (1763)
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Cullen W (1772)
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Commission Royale. Bailly A (1784)
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Gordon A (1788)
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Hunter J (1788)
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Trotter T (1792)
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Ministry of Internal Affairs (1832)
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Hunter J (1835)
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Forbes J (1846)
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Flint A (1863)
A contribution toward the natural history of articular rheumatism; consisting of a report of thirteen cases treated solely with palliative measures. American Journal of the Medical Sciences 46:17-36.

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Sutton HG (1865)
Cases of rheumatic fever treated for the most part by mint water. Guy’s Hospital Reports 2:392-428.

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Anonymous (1890)
The placebo in medicine. Medical Press 1890:18th June p642.

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Moll A (1891)
Hypnotism. London: Walter Scott, p 224.

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Rivers WHR (1908)
The influence of alcohol and other drugs on fatigue. London: Edward Arnold.

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Riseman JEF, Brown MG (1937)
Medicinal treatment of angina pectoris. Archives of Internal Medicine 60:100-118.

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Bahnsen P, Jacobsen E, Thesleff H (1938)
Studien über die Wirkung von beta-phenyl-isopropylaminsulfdat (Mecodrin) auf normale Menschen. [Studies on the effect of beta-phenyl-isopropylaminsulfdat (Mecodrin) on normal volunteers]. Klinische Wochenschrift 17:1074-1078.

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Rinzler SH, Bakst H, Benjamin Z, Bobb AL, Travell J (1950)
Failure of alpha tocopherol to influence chest pain in patients with heart disease. Circulation 1:288-293.

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Rinzler SH, Travell J, Bakst H, Benjamin ZH, Rosenthal RL, Rosenfeld S, Hirsch BB (1953)
Effect of heparin in effort angina. American Journal of Medicine 14:438-447.

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Greiner T, Bross I, Gold H (1957)
A method for evaluation of laxative habits in human subjects. Journal of Chronic Diseases 6:244-255.

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Kerr DNS, Davidson S (1958)
Gastrointestinal intolerance to oral iron preparations. Lancet 2:489-492.

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Gracely RH, Dubner R, Deeter WR, Wolskee PJ (1985)
Clinicians’ expectations influence placebo analgesia. Lancet 325:43. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(85)90984-5

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Waller LA (1997)
A note on Harold S Diehl, randomization, and clinical trials. Controlled Clinical Trials 18: 180-183.

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Wartolowska K, Judge A, Hopewell S, Collins GS, Dean BJF, Rombach I, Brindley D, Savulescu J, Beard DJ, Carr AJ (2014)
Use of placebo controls in the evaluation of surgery: systematic review. BMJ 348:g3253. doi: 10.1136/bmj.g3253.

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Wartolowska KA, Collins GS, Hopewell S, Judge A, Dean BJF, Rombach I, Beard DJ, Carr AJ (2016)
Feasibility of surgical randomised controlled trials with a placebo arm: a systematic review. BMJ Open 6: p.e010194.

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Moustgaard H, Clayton GL, Jones HE, Boutron I, Jørgensen L, Laursen DRT, Olsen MF, Paludan-Müller A, Ravaud P, Savović J, Sterne JAC, Higgins JPT, Hróbjartsson A (2020)
Impact of blinding on estimated treatment effects in randomised clinical trials: meta-epidemiological study. BMJ 368, l6802.

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D'Aquila RT, Hughes MD, Johnson VA, Fischl MA, Sommadossi JP, Liou SH, Timpone J, Myers M, Basgoz N, Niu M, Hirsch MS (2021)
Nevirapine, zidovudine, and didanosine compared with zidovudine and didanosine in patients with HIV-1 infection. A randomized, double- blind, placebo-controlled trial. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases AIDS Clinical Trials Group Protocol 241 Investigators. Annals of Internal Medicine 124:1019-1030.

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Faltinsen E, Todorovac A, Staxen Bruun L, Hróbjartsson A, Gluud C, Kongerslev MT, Simonsen E, Storebø OJ (2022)
Control interventions in randomised trials among people with mental health disorders. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 4(4):MR000050.

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Laursen DRT, Nejstgaard CH, Bjørkedal E, Frost AD, Hansen MR, Paludan-Müller AS, Prosenz J, Werner CP, Hróbjartsson A. (2023)
Impact of active placebo controls on estimated drug effects in randomised trials: a systematic review of trials with both active placebo and standard placebo. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 3(3):MR000055.

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Armitage P† (2003).
Some recollections of the early years of the Medical Research Council (MRC) Statistical Research Unit. JLL Bulletin: Commentaries on the history of treatment evaluation.

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Marson Smith P, Colquhoun D, Chalmers I (2019).
John Henry Gaddum’s 1940 guidance on controlled clinical trials JLL Bulletin: Commentaries on the history of treatment evaluation.

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Senn SJ, Chalmers I (2021).
Giving and taking: ethical treatment assignment in controlled trials. JLL Bulletin: Commentaries on the history of treatment evaluation.

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Podolsky SH (2022).
The (Harry) Gold Standard: angina, suggestion, and the path to the “double-blind” test and Clinical Pharmacology. JLL Bulletin: Commentaries on the history of treatment evaluation.

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Glasziou P, Matthews R, Boutron I, Chalmers I, Armitage P† (2023)
The differences and overlaps between ‘explanatory’ and ‘pragmatic’ controlled trials: a historical perspective. JLL Bulletin: Commentaries on the history of treatment evaluation.

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Quiz: Why Treatment Comparisons Are Essential

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