Trial reportPsychosomatic medicine2013
Can attention control conditions have detrimental effects on behavioral medicine randomized trials?
Trial report in Psychosomatic medicine, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT00217919 (Reducing Risk Factors in Peripheral Arterial Disease), which is not on this map. Cited by 21 papers, 3 of them syntheses 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.
Reducing Risk Factors in Peripheral Arterial Disease
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Control Conditions That Are Neither Usual Care Nor No Treatment in Randomized Trials of Psychoeducational Palliative Care Interventions: A Systematic Review.The American journal of hospice & palliative care · 2019Pooled it
- Systematic review of control groups in nutrition education intervention research.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2017Pooled it
- Understanding Goal Setting and Behavior Change Mechanics in an Older Adult Sitting Reduction Intervention.American journal of health promotion : AJHP · 2025Trial
- The effect of a single session of psychological first aid in the emergency department on PTSD and depressive symptoms three months post-intervention: results of a randomised controlled trial.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2024Trial
- Impact of the 'Healthy Youngsters, Healthy Dads' program on physical activity and other health behaviours: a randomised controlled trial involving fathers and their preschool-aged children.BMC public health · 2022Trial
- Attention control in a trial of an online psychoeducational intervention for caregivers.Research in nursing & health · 2022Trial
- Effects of an intervention on internalized HIV-related stigma for individuals newly entering HIV care.AIDS (London, England) · 2020Trial
- Parent-Implemented Communication Treatment for Infants and Toddlers With Hearing Loss: A Randomized Pilot Trial.Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR · 2019Trial
- DASH for asthma: a pilot study of the DASH diet in not-well-controlled adult asthma.Contemporary clinical trials · 2013Trial
- Group painting therapy for children and adolescents with bone tumors: a quasi-experimental trial evaluating anxiety, depression, post-traumatic growth, and health-related quality of life.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Designing an Attention Control Condition for a Randomized Controlled Trial Using TED Talks.Western journal of nursing research · 2025Article
- Using the Rehabilitation Treatment Specification System to Describe Experimental and Control Arms of a Clinical Trial for Breast Cancer Survivors.Rehabilitation oncology (American Physical Therapy Association. Oncology Section) · 2024Article
- The effects of the DASH dietary pattern on clinical outcomes and quality of life in adults with uncontrolled asthma: Design and methods of the ALOHA Trial.Contemporary clinical trials · 2023Article
- Considerations of Control Conditions Designs in Randomized Controlled Trials of Exercise Interventions for Cancer Survivors.The Canadian journal of nursing research = Revue canadienne de recherche en sciences infirmieres · 2022Article
- Goals for Reaching Optimal Wellness (GROWell): A clinical trial protocol of a digital dietary intervention for pregnant and postpartum people with prenatal overweight or obesity.Contemporary clinical trials · 2022Article
- Article
- Balance Right in Multiple Sclerosis (BRiMS): a guided self-management programme to reduce falls and improve quality of life, balance and mobility in people with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis: a protocol for a feasibility randomised controlled trial.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2018Article
- Practicalities and Research Considerations for Conducting Childhood Obesity Prevention Interventions with Families.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2016Review
- Perspective: Randomized Controlled Trials Are Not a Panacea for Diet-Related Research.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveAttention control (AC) conditions are used to balance nonspecific attention in randomized trials of behavioral interventions. Very little guidance about which behavioral interventions and outcomes merit AC is available in the literature. The primary aim of the present study is to demonstrate a scenario in which use of AC in a behavioral randomized trial was unnecessary and possibly detrimental.
methodsExploratory analyses were performed in a randomized controlled trial that tested whether a patient-centered counseling intervention reduced low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in 355 participants with peripheral arterial disease, compared with AC and usual care (UC) conditions. The patient-centered counseling intervention was designed to activate participants to ask their physician for lipid-lowering medication and/or increase dose intensity, increase medication adherence, and reduce fat intake. The AC condition involved attention-matched telephone-delivered health education, and the UC condition consisted of an educational pamphlet.
resultsAt 12-month follow-up, the mean low-density lipoprotein cholesterol changes were -11.1 and -6.8 mg/dL in the UC and AC conditions, respectively (p=.17). The proportion of participants who increased the use or dose intensity of medication was significantly lower in AC than in UC: 17.5% versus 30.5% (p=.03). No significant difference in other outcomes was observed between AC and UC.
conclusionsAC has significantly worse medication outcomes, and there is no indication of a therapeutic effect on other end points. Implications for the use of AC in behavioral randomized trials are discussed.
trial registrationclinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00217919.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.