Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29426869›Full record

Trial reportScientific reports2018

Open-Label Placebo Treatment for Cancer-Related Fatigue: A Randomized-Controlled Clinical Trial.

Teri W Hoenemeyer, Ted J Kaptchuk, Tapan S Mehta, Kevin R Fontaine

Open access · goldAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Scientific reports, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 77 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
77citing papers in PubMed, 9 pooled it
9.9field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

77 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 147 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Methodologic challenges of patient reported outcome research: A systematic review of the treatment of cancer related fatigue with open label placebos and the trials.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026
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  4. Management of Fatigue in Adult Survivors of Cancer: ASCO-Society for Integrative Oncology Guideline Update.Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2024
    Guideline
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  7. The efficacy of placebo for the treatment of cancer-related fatigue: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2020
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  12. Dexamethasone for 12 weeks for reducing fatigue in patients receiving palliative chemotherapy: A Phase 3, Placebo-Controlled, Randomized Controlled Trial.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025
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17 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Teri W HoenemeyerComprehensive Cancer Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA. tgw318@uab.edu.
Ted J KaptchukProgram of Placebo Studies and the Therapeutic Encounter, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Tapan S MehtaDepartment of Health Services Administration, School of Health Professions, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Kevin R FontaineDepartment of Health Behavior, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
University of Alabama at Birmingham · USBeth Israel Deaconess Medical Center · US

Funding

Efficacy of Open-Label Placebo, Double-Blind Placebo, and Peppermint Oil in IBSR01AT008573 · NCCIH · BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER · PI KAPTCHUK, TED, LEMBO, ANTHONY J · 2015 to 2019
$4.3M
Mentoring and Research in Placebo Studies, Asian Medicine, and CAMK24AT004095 · NCCIH · HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL · PI KAPTCHUK, TED · 2007 to 2016
$1.4M
NCCIH NIH HHS K24 AT004095NCCIH NIH HHS R01 AT008573
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The purpose of this 21-day assessor blinded, randomized-controlled trial was to compare an open-label placebo (OLP) to treatment as usual (TAU) for cancer survivors with fatigue. This was followed by an exploratory 21-day study in which TAU participants received OLPs while OLP participants in the main study were followed after discontinuing placebos. Cancer survivors (N = 74) who completed cancer treatment 6 months to 10 years prior to enrollment reporting at least moderate fatigue (i.e., ≥4 on a 0-10 scale) were randomized to OLP or TAU. Those randomized to OLP took 2 placebo pills twice a day for 21 days. Compared to those randomized to TAU, OLP participants reported a 29% improvement in fatigue severity (average difference in the mean change scores (MD) 12.47, 95% CI 3.32, 21.61; P = 0.008), medium effect (d = 0.63), and a 39% improvement in fatigue-disrupted quality of life (MD = 11.76, 95% CI 4.65, 18.86; P = 0.002), a large effect (d = 0.76). TAU participants who elected to try OLP for 21-days after the main study reported reductions in fatigue of a similar magnitude for fatigue severity and fatigue-disrupted quality of life (23% and 35%, respectively). OLP may reduce fatigue symptom severity and fatigue-related quality of life disruption in cancer survivors.

Indexed as

AdultAgedCancer SurvivorsFatigueFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedNeoplasmsPlacebo EffectPlacebosQuality of LifePlacebos

Identifiers

PMID29426869
PMCPMC5807541
OpenAlexW2791426003

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.