Which placebo to cure depression? A thought-provoking network meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Antidepressants are often considered to be mere placebos despite the fact that meta-analyses are able to rank them. It follows that it should also be possible to rank different placebos, which are all made of sucrose. To explore this issue, which is rather more epistemological than clinical, we designed an unusual meta-analysis to investigate whether the effects of placebo in one situation are different from the effects of placebo in another situation.

Methods

Published and unpublished studies were searched for by three reviewers on Medline, the Cochrane Library, Embase, clinicaltrials.gov, Current Controlled Trial, in bibliographies, and by mailing key organizations. The following studies in first-line treatment for major depressive disorder were considered to co

SUBMITTER: Naudet F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3819667 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature