ReviewBMJ open2017
What techniques might be used to harness placebo effects in non-malignant pain? A literature review and survey to develop a taxonomy.
Review in BMJ open, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 2 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
20 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 47 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impact of audible pops associated with spinal manipulation on perceived pain: a systematic review.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2022Pooled it
- Impact of contextual factors on patient outcomes following conservative low back pain treatment: systematic review.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2022Pooled it
- Optimizing placebo and minimizing nocebo effects through communication: e-learning and virtual reality training development.BMC medical education · 2024Article
- Harnessing placebo: Lessons from psychedelic science.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2023Review
- Article
- Musculoskeletal practitioners' perceptions of contextual factors that may influence chronic low back pain outcomes: a modified Delphi study.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2023Article
- The placebo and nocebo effects in functional urology.Nature reviews. Urology · 2022Review
- Placebo comparator group selection and use in surgical trials: the ASPIRE project including expert workshop.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2021Article
- Effects of Osteopathic T9-T10 Vertebral Manipulation in Tonsillitis: A Randomized Clinical Trial.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Harnessing Placebo Effects in Primary Care: Using the Person-Based Approach to Develop an Online Intervention to Enhance Practitioners' Communication of Clinical Empathy and Realistic Optimism During Consultations.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- A virtual experimenter does not increase placebo hypoalgesia when delivering an interactive expectancy manipulation.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Article
- The Clinical Use of Biologics in the Knee Lesions: Does the Patient Benefit?Current reviews in musculoskeletal medicine · 2019Review
- Optimizing ExpectationsFrontiers in psychiatry · 2019Article
- Pain Anticipation and Nocebo-Related Responses: A Descriptive Mini-Review of Functional Neuroimaging Studies in Normal Subjects and Precious Hints on Pain Processing in the Context of Neurodegenerative Disorders.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2019Review
- Clinical relevance of contextual factors as triggers of placebo and nocebo effects in musculoskeletal pain.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2018Review
- Implications of Placebo and Nocebo Effects for Clinical Practice: Expert Consensus.Psychotherapy and psychosomatics · 2018Article
- Minimizing nocebo effect: Pragmatic approach.Avicenna journal of medicineReview
- The Bell Tolls for Homeopathy: Time for Change in the Training and Practice of North American Naturopathic Physicians.Journal of evidence-based integrative medicineArticle
- Riding a Tiger: Maximizing Effects of Manual Therapies for Pelvic Pain.Journal of women's health physical therapyArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesPlacebo effects can be clinically meaningful but are seldom fully exploited in clinical practice. This review aimed to facilitate translational research by producing a taxonomy of techniques that could augment placebo analgesia in clinical practice.
designLiterature review and survey.
methodsWe systematically analysed methods which could plausibly be used to elicit placebo effects in 169 clinical and laboratory-based studies involving non-malignant pain, drawn from seven systematic reviews. In a validation exercise, we surveyed 33 leading placebo researchers (mean 12 years’ research experience, SD 9.8), who were asked to comment on and add to the draft taxonomy derived from the literature.
resultsThe final taxonomy defines 30 procedures that may contribute to placebo effects in clinical and experimental research, proposes 60 possible clinical applications and classifies procedures into five domains: the patient’s characteristics and belief (5 procedures and 11 clinical applications), the practitioner’s characteristics and beliefs (2 procedures and 4 clinical applications), the healthcare setting (8 procedures and 13 clinical applications), treatment characteristics (8 procedures and 14 clinical applications) and the patientâ€"practitioner interaction (7 procedures and 18 clinical applications).
conclusionThe taxonomy provides a preliminary and novel tool with potential to guide translational research aiming to harness placebo effects for patient benefit in practice.
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.