Trial reportPloS one2013
Cognitive factors mediate placebo responses in patients with house dust mite allergy.
Trial report in PloS one, 2013. 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
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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, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- [Placebo effect in clinical trials with allergen-specific immunotherapy with inhalant allergens].Der Hautarzt; Zeitschrift fur Dermatologie, Venerologie, und verwandte Gebiete · 2017Pooled it
- Experimental Approach to Inducing Anti-Histaminergic Placebo Effects: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Healthy Volunteers.Neuroimmunomodulation · 2026Trial
- Shaping Treatment Expectation to Optimize Efficacy of Interleukin 17A Antagonist Secukinumab in Psoriasis Patients.Psoriasis (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2025Trial
- House dust mite sublingual tablet is effective and safe in patients with allergic rhinitis.Allergy · 2017Trial
- Evaluation of a single dose of ferric carboxymaltose in fatigued, iron-deficient women--PREFER a randomized, placebo-controlled study.PloS one · 2014Trial
- Antipruritic Placebo Effects by Conditioning H1-antihistamine.Psychosomatic medicineTrial
- [The effect of treatment expectations on pruritus and skin pain].Schmerz (Berlin, Germany) · 2022Review
- Psycho-Neuro-Endocrine-Immunological Basis of the Placebo Effect: Potential Applications beyond Pain Therapy.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Further Understanding of Neuro-Immune Interactions in Allergy: Implications in Pathophysiology and Role in Disease Progression.Journal of asthma and allergy · 2022Review
- COVID-19 pandemic: Practical considerations on the organization of an allergy clinic-An EAACI/ARIA Position Paper.Allergy · 2021Article
- Conditioning cortisol in humans: design and pilot study of a randomized controlled trial.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2019Article
- Contextually Aided Recovery (CARe): a scientific theory for innate healing.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2017Article
- Using the placebo effect: how expectations and learned immune function can optimize dermatological treatments.Experimental dermatology · 2017Article
- The placebo effect in asthma.Current allergy and asthma reports · 2014Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPlacebo effects have been reported in type I allergic reactions. However the neuropsychological mechanisms steering placebo responses in allergies are largely unknown. The study analyzed whether and to what extend a conditioned placebo response is affecting type I allergic reactions and whether this response can be reproduced at multiple occasions.
methods62 patients with house dust mite allergy were randomly allocated to either a conditioned (n = 25), sham-conditioned (n = 25) or natural history (n = 12) group. During the learning phase (acquisition), patients in the conditioned group received the H1-receptor antagonist desloratadine (5mg) (unconditioned stimulus/US) together with a novel tasting gustatory stimulus (conditioned stimulus/CS). Patients in the sham-conditioned control group received the CS together with a placebo pill. After a wash out time of 9 days patients in the conditioned and sham-conditioned group received placebo pills together with the CS during evocation. Allergic responses documented by wheal size after skin prick test and symptom scores after nasal provocation were analyzed at baseline, after last desloratadine treatment and after the 1(st) and 5(th) CS re-exposure.
resultsBoth conditioned and sham-conditioned patients showed significantly decreased wheal sizes after the 1(st) CS-evocation and significantly decreased symptom scores after the 1(st) as well as after the 5(th) evocation compared to the natural history control group.
conclusionsThese results indicate that placebo responses in type I allergy are not primarily mediated by learning processes, but seemed to be induced by cognitive factors such as patients' expectation, with these effects not restricted to a single evocation.
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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.