ArticleScientific reports2023
The roles of expectation, comparator, administration route, and population in open-label placebo effects: a network meta-analysis.
Article in Scientific reports, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06350786 (Conditioned Open-label Placebos to Facilitate Opioid Reduction in Patients With Subacute or Chronic Pain Pain), which is not on this map. Cited by 33 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.
Conditioned Open-label Placebos to Facilitate Opioid Reduction in Patients With Subacute or Chronic Pain Pain: a Randomized Controlled Trial
Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Effects of open-label placebos across populations and outcomes: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Scientific reports · 2025Pooled it
- Open label placebo for chronic low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Pain management · 2025Pooled it
- Dispositional optimism and open-label placebo responses in hair cortisol concentrations and psychological distress-A randomized controlled trial.Applied psychology. Health and well-being · 2026Trial
- Open-label placebos reduce hair cortisol concentrations and psychological distress - a randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- Roles of administration route, expectation, and belief in placebos in a randomized controlled trial with open-label placebos.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Open-Label Placebos as Adjunct for the Preventive Treatment of Migraine: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2025Trial
- A simple alternative to nondeceptive placebos for reducing emotional distress: encouragement.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2025Trial
- Open-label placebos reduce weight in obesity: a randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- The pill you don't have to take that is still effective: neural correlates of imaginary placebo intake for regulating disgust.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2024Trial
- Open-label placebos enhance test performance and reduce anxiety in learner drivers: a randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Review
- Effects of prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation on open-label placebo responses.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Open-label placebo effects on psychological distress and hair cortisol in a randomized controlled trial - the moderating role of the five-factor personality traits.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2026Article
- Open-label placebo treatment for acute postoperative pain (OLP-POP study): a randomized controlled trial.Pain reports · 2026Article
- Acceptance of Open-Label Placebos Is Linked to Holistic Health Beliefs and Thinking Styles.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Effects of an open-label placebo on divergent thinking performance.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The impact of health beliefs on treatment decision conflict through treatment expectations mediation in patients with lumbar disc herniation.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Transitioning from deceptive to nondeceptive placebo treatment to reduce pathological skin-picking.Discover mental health · 2025Article
- Open-label placebos for low back pain: unresolved challenges and next steps.Pain management · 2025Article
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
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Three meta-analyses have demonstrated the clinical potential of open-label placebos (OLPs). However, there is a need to synthesize the existing evidence through more complex analyses that would make it possible to answer questions beyond mere efficacy. Such analyses would serve to improve the understanding of why and under what circumstances OLPs work (e.g., depending on induced expectations or across different control groups). To answer these questions, we conducted the first network meta-analyses in the field of OLPs. Our analyses revealed that OLPs could be beneficial in comparison to no treatment in nonclinical (12 trials; 1015 participants) and clinical populations (25 trials; 2006 participants). Positive treatment expectations were found to be important for OLPs to work. Also, OLP effects can vary depending on the comparator used. While the kind of administration route had no substantial impact on the OLP effects, effects were found to be larger in clinical populations than in nonclinical populations. These results suggest that the expectation, comparator, administration route, and population should be considered when designing and interpreting OLP studies.
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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.