Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39221039›Full record

ReviewOrthopaedic journal of sports medicine2024

Placebo Effect in the Treatment of Patellar Tendinopathy and Its Influencing Factors: Systematic Review With Meta-analysis and Meta Regression of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Davide Previtali, Jacopo Albanese, Iacopo Romandini, Giulia Merli, Francesca Taraballi, Giuseppe Filardo

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Non-Biologic Injections in Sports Medicine.Current reviews in musculoskeletal medicine · 2026
    Review
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

6 authors.

Davide PrevitaliService of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Department of Surgery, EOC, Lugano, Switzerland.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0284-4368
Jacopo AlbaneseService of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Department of Surgery, EOC, Lugano, Switzerland.
Iacopo RomandiniII Clinica, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy.
Giulia MerliApplied and Translational Research (ATR) Center, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7895-5606
Francesca TaraballiCenter for Musculoskeletal Regeneration, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, Texas, USA.
Giuseppe FilardoService of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Department of Surgery, EOC, Lugano, Switzerland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: The effectiveness of nonsurgical treatment of patellar tendinopathy is questioned due to the conflicting results of placebo-controlled randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in which placebo arms often show impressive results. Purpose: To quantify the magnitude of placebo effect of the different nonsurgical treatments of patellar tendinopathy. We also evaluated the influence of patients and treatments characteristics on the response to the placebo. Study Design: Systematic review; Level of evidence, 1. Methods: We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and gray literature databases on May 10, 2023, with no time limitation. RCTs on nonoperative treatment of patellar tendinopathy, including a placebo control arm reporting the evolution of symptoms after placebo administration, were included. A single-arm meta-analysis was performed with the Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment-Patella (VISA-P) at mid-term follow-up (3-6 months) as the primary outcome. The VISA-P score at short-term (1-3 months) and long-term (6-12 months) follow-ups, as well as visual analog scale (VAS) for pain at all 3 time points were also analyzed. A subanalysis based on the type of placebo and a meta-regression were conducted to look for potential determinants of the placebo effect. Risk of bias and level of evidence were also analyzed using the revised tool for risk of bias in randomized trials and Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation. Results: In total, 14 studies (251 patients) were included. VISA-P score at mid-term follow-up (3-6 months) showed statistically significant improvements of 13 of 100 points ( Conclusion: The placebo effect for nonsurgical treatments of patellar tendinopathy is long-lasting (up to 12 months) and statistically and clinically significant. It has a perceived and true component and differs among treatments. The duration of follow-up and the effect size of experimental groups correlate with the magnitude of the placebo component, underlining the importance of RCTs to determine the effectiveness of new treatments of patellar tendinopathy.

Indexed as

extracorporeal shock wave therapyinjectionspatellar tendinopathyplacebo effecttaping

Identifiers

PMID39221039
PMCPMC11363234

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.