Trial reportAsian journal of psychiatry2015
Association between physician beliefs regarding assigned treatment and clinical response: re-analysis of data from the Hypericum Depression Trial Study Group.
Trial report in Asian journal of psychiatry, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 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
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Adaptogens on Depression-Related Outcomes: A Systematic Integrative Review and Rationale of Synergism with Physical Activity.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Pooled it
- Seeing Through the Blind: Belief About Treatment Randomization and Smoking Cessation Outcome Among People With Current or Past Major Depressive Disorder Who Smoke in a Placebo-Controlled Trial of Varenicline.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2024Trial
- St John's Wort (Complementary medicine research · 2025Observational
- Revisiting the SSRI vs. placebo debate in the treatment of social anxiety disorder: the role of expectancy effects, neural responsivity, and monoamine transporters.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Treatment guesses in the Treatment for Adolescents with Depression Study: Accuracy, unblinding and influence on outcomes.The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry · 2024Article
- The effects of Korean Red Ginseng on stress-related neurotransmitters and gene expression: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.Journal of ginseng research · 2023Article
- Comparative efficacy of placebos in short-term antidepressant trials for major depression: a secondary meta-analysis of placebo-controlled trials.BMC psychiatry · 2020Article
- Diet, Lifestyle and Cardiovascular Diseases: Linking Pathophysiology to Cardioprotective Effects of Natural Bioactive Compounds.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Review
- Effect of Korean Red Ginseng in individuals exposed to high stress levels: a 6-week, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial.Journal of ginseng research · 2019Article
- The Impact of (the Concept of) Treatment-Resistant Depression: An Opinion Review.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2019Review
- Placebo Effect in the Treatment of Depression and Anxiety.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWe have previously shown an association between patient belief and treatment response in the Hypericum Depression Trial Study Group's 2002 study. We re-examined these data to determine whether clinical improvement was associated with physician belief about assigned therapy.
methodsThree hundred and forty adults with major depression and baseline scores ≥20 on the 17-item Hamilton Depression Scale (HDRS-17) were randomized to Hypericum 900-1500mg/day, sertraline 50-100mg/day, or placebo for 8 weeks. At week 8, physicians guessed their patients' treatment. We analyzed 277 subjects with at least one post-baseline visit and physician guess data. We examined association between guess and improvement in HDRS-17 and whether treatment assignment moderated the effect of belief on remission (final HDRS-17 score <8).
resultsPatient and doctor guesses agreed at 53% for sertraline, 68% for Hypericum, and 52% for placebo (kappa=0.37). Doctors guessed placebo correctly (38%) more than sertraline (18%) or Hypericum (19%) (p=0.001). Adverse event scores were significantly greater among subjects for which the clinicians guessed Hypericum (p<0.001) or sertraline (p=0.005) compared to placebo. Significant improvements in HDRS-17 score were found when comparing the Hypericum-guess (p<0.001) or the sertraline-guess group (p<0.001) against the placebo-guess group. Remission rates were significantly greater for subjects whose clinicians guessed sertraline (p<0.001) or Hypericum (p<0.001) versus placebo.
conclusionDoctors tended to guess placebo more easily than Hypericum or sertraline, and their guesses tended to favor active therapies when improvement was more robust. Results show association but not causation, and merit more careful investigation.
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.