ArticleTrials2012
Should we reconsider the routine use of placebo controls in clinical research?
Article in Trials, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 43 citations in OpenAlex.
- Bee venom acupuncture for musculoskeletal pain conditions: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2025Pooled it
- Preventing substance misuse: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial of the Strengthening Families Programme 10-14 UK (SFP 10-14 UK).BMC public health · 2014Trial
- Trial
- Glucose metabolism disorders and vestibular manifestations: evaluation through computerized dynamic posturography.Brazilian journal of otorhinolaryngologyTrial
- A Randomized Controlled Trial of mHealth Mindfulness Intervention for Cancer Patients and Informal Cancer Caregivers: A Feasibility Study Within an Integrated Health Care Delivery System.Integrative cancer therapiesTrial
- Human research ethics committees members: ethical review personal perceptions.Monash bioethics review · 2021Review
- Randomized Controlled Trials 1: Design.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2021Article
- Article
- Letter to the editor, Odell 2019.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2019Article
- Placebo acceptability in chronic pain patients: More dependent on application mode and resulting condition than on individual factors.PloS one · 2018Article
- Conifer Green Needle Complex in Patients with Precancerous Gastric Lesions: An Observational Pilot Study.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2016Article
- Designing a placebo device: involving service users in clinical trial design.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2013Article
- Control group design: enhancing rigor in research of mind-body therapies for depression.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2013Article
- A comparative study of effects of glycopyrrolate and ondansetron on nausea and vomiting in cesarean section under spinal anesthesia.Anesthesia, essays and researchesArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundModern clinical-research practice favors placebo controls over usual-care controls whenever a credible placebo exists. An unrecognized consequence of this preference is that clinicians are more limited in their ability to provide the benefits of the non-specific healing effects of placebos in clinical practice.
methodsWe examined the issues in choosing between placebo and usual-care controls. We considered why placebo controls place constraints on clinicians and the trade-offs involved in the choice of control groups.
resultsWe find that, for certain studies, investigators should consider usual-care controls, even if an adequate placebo is available. Employing usual-care controls would be of greatest value for pragmatic trials evaluating treatments to improve clinical care and for which threats to internal validity can be adequately managed without a placebo-control condition.
conclusionsIntentionally choosing usual-care controls, even when a satisfactory placebo exists, would allow clinicians to capture the value of non-specific therapeutic benefits that are common to all interventions. The result could be more effective, patient-centered care that makes the best use of both specific and non-specific benefits of medical interventions.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.