Placebo
hideA placebo is a sham medical intervention. In one common placebo procedure, a patient is given an inert sugar pill, told that it may improve his/her condition, but not told that it is in fact inert. Such an intervention may cause the patient to believe the treatment will change his/her condition; and this belief does indeed sometimes have a therapeutic effect, causing the patient's condition to improve. This phenomenon is known as the placebo effect.
Placebos are widely used in medicine, and the placebo effect is a pervasive phenomenon; in fact, it is part of the response to any active medication. However, the deceptive nature of the placebo creates tension between the Hippocratic Oath and the honesty of the doctor-patient relationship. The placebo effect points to the importance of perception and the brain's role in physical health.
Since the publication of Henry K. Beecher's The Powerful Placebo in 1955 the phenomenon has been considered to have clinically important effects. This view was notably challenged when in 2001 a systematic review of clinical trials concluded that there was no evidence of clinically important effects, except perhaps in the treatment of pain and continuous subjective outcomes. The article received a flurry of criticism, but the authors later published a Cochrane review with similar conclusions. Most studies have attributed the difference from baseline till the end of the trial to a placebo effect, but the reviewers examined studies which had both placebo and untreated groups in order to distinguish the placebo effect from the natural progression of the disease.
For more information about Placebo, read the full article at
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News tagged with placebo
Drug for Alzheimer's disease does not appear to slow cognitive decline
Medicine & Health / Medications
Dec 15, 2009 |
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Although there were promising results in a phase 2 trial, patients with mild Alzheimer disease who received the drug tarenflurbil as part of a phase 3 trial did not have better outcomes on measures of cognitive decline or ...
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Clinical Trial Examines Drug's Potential for Protecting the Optic Nerve
15 hours ago |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Acute optic neuritis, an inflammation of the optic nerve, doesn't occur all that often. But for those who experience it, the vision loss, pain and nerve damage that often result are no small ...
Good cholesterol not as protective in people with type 2 diabetes
17 hours ago |
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High-density lipoprotein (HDL), known as "good" cholesterol, isn’t as protective for people with type 2 diabetes, according to research reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Drug for Multiple Myeloma Demonstrated to Significantly Extend Disease-Free Survival
20 hours ago |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Initial results from a large, randomized clinical trial for patients with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow, showed that patients who received the oral drug lenalidomide (Revlimid, also ...
New Vaccines May Help Thwart E. coli O157:H7
Dec 18, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Immunizing calves with either of two forms of a vaccine newly developed by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists might reduce the spread of sometimes deadly Escherichia coli O157:H7 ...
Bourbon versus vodka: Bourbon hurts more the next day, performance is the same
Dec 18, 2009 |
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Many alcoholic beverages contain byproducts of the materials used in the fermenting process. These byproducts are called "congeners," complex organic molecules with toxic effects including acetone, acetaldehyde, fusel oil, ...
Breathlessness eased in patients with rare, often fatal disease
Dec 17, 2009 |
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Patients with a rare, deadly disease that mostly affects young women felt a dramatic reduction in breathlessness using an approved drug, according to study results published online today in The Journal of Heart and Lung Tr ...
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