Are treatments more effective than placebos? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Placebos are widely used in clinical practice in spite of ethical restrictions. Whether such use is justified depends in part on the relative benefit of placebos compared to 'active' treatments. A direct test for differences between placebo and 'active' treatment effects has not been conducted.

Objectives

We aimed to test for differences between treatment and placebo effects within similar trial populations.

Data sources

A Cochrane Review compared placebos with no treatment in three-armed trials (no treatment, placebo, and treatment). We added an analysis of treatment and placebo differences within the same trials. SYNTHESIS METHODS: For continuous outcomes we compared mean differences between placebo and no treatment with mean differences between treatment

SUBMITTER: Howick J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3655171 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature