Trial reportScience translational medicine2014
Altered placebo and drug labeling changes the outcome of episodic migraine attacks.
Trial report in Science translational medicine, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 5 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 168 papers, 5 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.
The Effects of Expectation and Knowledge on Rizatriptan and Placebo Treatment of Acute Migraine Headache
The Use of an Open Label Placebo to Treat Cancer Related Fatigue in Cancer Survivors
Mind-body Treatments for Chronic Back Pain
Open-Label Placebo Treatment of Women With Premenstrual Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of Information on Placebo in the Informed Consent on the Trial Outcomes and Participant Blinding
Who cites it
168 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 391 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review and meta analysis of open label placebo effects in chronic musculoskeletal pain.Scientific reports · 2025Pooled it
- Social pain: A systematic review on interventions.F1000Research · 2025Pooled it
- How do they add up? The interaction between the placebo and treatment effect: A systematic review.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2022Pooled it
- Effects of open-label placebos in clinical trials: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2021Pooled it
- Placebo Responses Among Men With Erectile Dysfunction Enrolled in Phosphodiesterase 5 Inhibitor Trials: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.JAMA network open · 2020Pooled it
- Roles of administration route, expectation, and belief in placebos in a randomized controlled trial with open-label placebos.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Open-Label Placebos as Adjunct for the Preventive Treatment of Migraine: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2025Trial
- Placebo effects improve sickness symptoms and drug efficacy during systemic inflammation: a randomized controlled trial in human experimental endotoxemia.BMC medicine · 2025Trial
- Effectiveness of conditioning + open-label placebo for post-operative pain management in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.Pain management · 2025Trial
- Investigating the Relationship Between Cannabis Expectancies and Anxiety, Depression, and Pain Responses After Acute Flower and Edible Cannabis Use.Cannabis and cannabinoid research · 2025Trial
- The Power of a Good Word: Enhancing the Efficacy of Analgesics in Clinical Settings.Psychotherapy and psychosomatics · 2025Trial
- Open-Label Placebo Injection for Chronic Back Pain With Functional Neuroimaging: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2024Trial
- Effects of an open-label placebo intervention on reactions to social exclusion in healthy adults: a randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2023Trial
- Effectiveness of Conditioned Open-label Placebo With Methadone in Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2023Trial
- Auriculotherapy for reducing chronic spinal pain in health workers: a clinical trial.Revista latino-americana de enfermagem · 2023Trial
- Open-Label Placebo for the Treatment of Cancer-Related Fatigue in Patients with Advanced Cancer: A Randomized Controlled Trial.The oncologist · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Savor the flavor: A randomized double-blind study assessing taste-enhanced placebo analgesia in healthy volunteers.Clinical and translational science · 2022Trial
- Quantity changes in acute headache medication use among patients with chronic migraine treated with eptinezumab: subanalysis of the PROMISE-2 study.The journal of headache and pain · 2022Trial
- Informed Consent for Placebo-Controlled Trials: Do Ethics and Science Conflict?Ethics & human research · 2022Trial
108 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Information provided to patients is thought to influence placebo and drug effects. In a prospective, within-subjects, repeated-measures study of 66 subjects with episodic migraine, we investigated how variations in medication labeling modified placebo and drug effects. An initial attack with no treatment served as a control. In six subsequent migraine attacks, each participant received either placebo or Maxalt (10-mg rizatriptan) administered under three information conditions ranging from negative to neutral to positive (told placebo, told Maxalt or placebo, told Maxalt) (N = 459 documented attacks). Treatment order was randomized. Maxalt was superior to placebo for pain relief. When participants were given placebo labeled as (i) placebo, (ii) Maxalt or placebo, and (iii) Maxalt, the placebo effect increased progressively. Maxalt had a similar progressive boost when labeled with these three labels. The efficacies of Maxalt labeled as placebo and placebo labeled as Maxalt were similar. The efficacy of open-label placebo was superior to that of no treatment. Relative to no treatment, the placebo, under each information condition, accounted for more than 50% of the drug effect. Increasing "positive" information incrementally boosted the efficacy of both placebo and medication during migraine attacks. The benefits of placebo persisted even if placebo was honestly described. Whether treatment involves medication or placebo, the information provided to patients and the ritual of pill taking are important components of care.
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.