ReviewContemporary clinical trials2021
What can be done to control the placebo response in clinical trials? A narrative review.
Review in Contemporary clinical trials, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 3 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
15 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Placebo Response in Randomised Controlled Trials of Systemic Therapies for Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Pharmaceutical medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Vagus nerve stimulation as a potential treatment for acute asthmatic bronchoconstriction: a systematic review.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Pooled it
- Hype or hope? High placebo response in major depression treatment with ketamine and esketamine: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Relationship between pruritus and sleep in participants with primary biliary cholangitis in the Phase 2b GLIMMER trial.Journal of patient-reported outcomes · 2024Trial
- Short-Term Cannabidiol with Δ-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol in Parkinson's Disease: A Randomized Trial.Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society · 2024Trial
- Off-label and investigational drugs in the treatment of gambling disorder: a critical review.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Review
- Considerations for Issues of Regression to the Mean and Contextual Effects in Clinical Trials for Pain in Rheumatic Diseases.Arthritis care & research · 2026Review
- Reducing Pain and Improving Mobility Using Haptic Patch Technology: Results of the RESTORE Study.Pain and therapy · 2025Article
- Justice for Placebo: Placebo Effect in Clinical Trials and Everyday Practice.Medicines (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Neuropharmacological Interventions of Plant Origin for Parkinson's Disease: A Comprehensive Appraisal.Current neuropharmacology · 2025Review
- Dispositional Optimism Predicts Antidepressant Treatment Response in Major Depressive Disorder: Potential Relevance for Positive Psychology Interventions.The journal of positive psychology · 2024Article
- A Mini Review of the Impact of Baseline Disease Severity on Clinical Outcomes: Should We Compare Atopic Dermatitis Clinical Trials?Dermatology and therapy · 2023Review
- Conscious connected breathing with breath retention intervention in adults with chronic low back pain: protocol for a randomized controlled pilot study.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2023Article
- Seventy Years of Antipsychotic Development: A Critical Review.Biomedicines · 2023Review
- Great Expectations: recommendations for improving the methodological rigor of psychedelic clinical trials.Psychopharmacology · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The desire to reduce high placebo response rates in clinical trials is a popular concept. However, few studies have rigorously examined the effectiveness of methods to control for placebo responses that are relevant to randomized controlled trials. The primary objective of this review was to evaluate the effect of experimental placebo manipulations in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). We critically reviewed studies designed to manipulate placebo responses including positive expectations regarding the effectiveness of the placebo treatment, manipulating the time spent with subjects, and training study staff and subjects to accurately report symptom severity. These efforts have generally resulted in reduced placebo response and improved discrimination between drug and placebo. Interventions that neutralize staff and subject expectations and improve the ability of subjects to accurately report symptom severity have shown the most promise. Reduction of the placebo response has the potential to accelerate the development of new therapeutics.
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.