ReviewContemporary clinical trials2022
The neglect of sex: A call to action for including sex as a biological variable in placebo and nocebo research.
Review in Contemporary clinical trials, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 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
13 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Meta-analytic evidence for distinct neural correlates of conditioned versus verbally induced placebo analgesia.Nature communications · 2026Pooled it
- Learning by observing: a systematic exploration of modulatory factors and the impact of observationally induced placebo and nocebo effects on treatment outcomes.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Pooled it
- Trial
- Trial
- Oral health profiles and quality of life in men with andropause symptoms: a structural equation modeling and cluster analysis approach.Frontiers in oral health · 2026Article
- The Role of Oxytocin and Sex in Analgesic Placebo-Response: Exploratory Analysis from a Sham Randomized Clinical Trial in Chronic Back-Pain Patients.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Placebo and nocebo phenomena in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: a narrative review on current knowledge and potential future directions.Psychological medicine · 2025Review
- Do patients with fibromyalgia syndrome and healthy people differ in their opinions on placebo effects in routine medical care?Pain practice : the official journal of World Institute of Pain · 2025Article
- The Nocebo Effect.Annual review of pharmacology and toxicology · 2024Review
- Placebo effects in osteoarthritis: implications for treatment and drug development.Nature reviews. Rheumatology · 2023Review
- Baseline heart rate variability predicts placebo hypoalgesia in men, but not women.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- The Post-Roe Political Landscape Demands a Morality of Caution for Women's Health.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Article
- Construction and validation of chronic pain prediction model after total knee arthroplasty.Pakistan journal of medical sciencesArticle
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 at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Sex differences exist in the prevalence, progression and treatment efficacy of a wide array of medical conditions. While the placebo and nocebo effects have become increasingly relevant in the clinical arena, little is known about the influence of biological sex on placebo and nocebo effects. This paper discusses the existing, relatively limited and sometimes conflicting evidence about how sex impacts the occurrence and magnitude of the placebo and nocebo effects, mainly focusing on pain studies. We present recent evidence that when compared to men, women suffering from chronic orofacial pain may derive greater benefit from the placebo effect for analgesia. Nonetheless, we broadly argue that the field is not currently positioned to draw definitive conclusions and propose several important factors that may explain the inconsistency in the literature and that should be taken into account in future research. These include the specific target symptom of the placebo or nocebo manipulation and whether or not the target is related to the medical condition, the placebo or nocebo induction method, the sex of the experimenter or physician, and so forth. Future research should intentionally include sex a biological variable to favor translation of placebo and nocebo mechanisms into clinical applications.
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.