ArticlePharmacology research & perspectives2016
The nocebo effect of drugs.
Article in Pharmacology research & perspectives, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 77 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
77 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Negative expectations and measurable movement mechanics: a scoping review of the nocebo effect on motor performance.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- Mitigating the Nocebo Effect in Biosimilar Use and Switching: A Systematic Review.Pharmaceutical medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Nocebo effect in multiple system atrophy: systematic review and meta-analysis of placebo-controlled clinical trials.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2022Pooled it
- Multidisciplinary team intervention to reduce the nocebo effect when switching from the originator infliximab to a biosimilar.RMD open · 2021Pooled it
- Risk of Adverse Outcomes in Females Taking Oral Creatine Monohydrate: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2020Pooled it
- The efficacy of pyridostigmine therapy after transurethral resection of prostate in cases with underactive urinary bladder: prospective randomized trial.World journal of urology · 2025Trial
- Nocebo expectations rather than placebo expectations affect topical pain relief: A randomized clinical trial.Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & pharmacotherapie · 2024Trial
- The PROPER Study: A 48-Week, Pan-European, Real-World Study of Biosimilar SB5 Following Transition from Reference Adalimumab in Patients with Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Disease.BioDrugs : clinical immunotherapeutics, biopharmaceuticals and gene therapy · 2023Trial
- Nocebo effects by providing informed consent in shared decision making? Not necessarily: a randomized pilot-trial using an open-label placebo approach.BMC medical ethics · 2020Trial
- Efficacy and Safety of CT-P13 in Inflammatory Bowel Disease after Switching from Originator Infliximab: Exploratory Analyses from the NOR-SWITCH Main and Extension Trials.BioDrugs : clinical immunotherapeutics, biopharmaceuticals and gene therapy · 2020Trial
- Temporary interruption of baricitinib: characterization of interruptions and effect on clinical outcomes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.Arthritis research & therapy · 2020Trial
- Tripping on nothing: placebo psychedelics and contextual factors.Psychopharmacology · 2020Trial
- Bioavailability of Triprolidine as a Single Agent or in Combination With Pseudoephedrine: A Randomized, Open-Label Crossover Study in Healthy Volunteers.Clinical pharmacology in drug development · 2020Trial
- Prospective randomized study of sexual function in men taking dutasteride for the treatment of androgenetic alopecia.The Journal of dermatology · 2018Trial
- Impact of medication side effects on medication adherence and implications for treatment outcomes in patients with borderline personality disorder: a pilot study.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Switching from Originator Tocilizumab to Biosimilar in Giant Cell Arteritis: Evaluation of Effectiveness and Safety in a Multicenter Cohort of 38 Patients.Drugs & aging · 2026Observational
- Is the Safety of Finasteride Correlated With Its Route of Administration: Topical Versus Oral? A Pharmacovigilance Study With Data From the United States Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System.International journal of dermatology · 2026Article
- Efficacy of gabapentin and pregabalin for the treatment of neurogenic claudication in lumbar spinal stenosis: a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial.Asian spine journal · 2025Article
- Nocebo effect in inhaler use: Patients' beliefs and treatment adherence.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2025Article
- Post-finasteride syndrome - a true clinical entity?International journal of impotence research · 2025Review
17 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
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
While the placebo effect has been studied for a long time, much less is known about its negative counterpart, named the nocebo effect. However, it may be of particular importance because of its impact on the treatment outcomes and public health. We conducted a review on the nocebo effect using PubMed and other databases up to July 2014. The nocebo effect refers by definition to the induction or the worsening of symptoms induced by sham or active therapies. Examples are numerous and concerns both clinical trials and daily practice. The underlying mechanisms are, on one hand, psychological (conditioning and negative expectations) and, on the other hand, neurobiological (role of cholecystokinin, endogenous opioids and dopamine). Nocebo effects can modulate the outcome of a given therapy in a negative way, as do placebo effects in a positive way. The verbal and nonverbal communications of physicians contain numerous unintentional negative suggestions that may trigger a nocebo response. This raises the important issue of how physicians can at the same time obtain informed consent and minimize nocebo-related risks. Every physician has to deal with this apparent contradiction between primum non nocere and to deliver truthful information about risks. Meticulous identification of patients at risk, information techniques such as positive framing, contextualized informed consent, and even noninformation, is valuable.
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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.