Placebo effect of medication cost in Parkinson disease: a randomized double-blind study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To examine the effect of cost, a traditionally "inactive" trait of intervention, as contributor to the response to therapeutic interventions.

Methods

We conducted a prospective double-blind study in 12 patients with moderate to severe Parkinson disease and motor fluctuations (mean age 62.4 ± 7.9 years; mean disease duration 11 ± 6 years) who were randomized to a "cheap" or "expensive" subcutaneous "novel injectable dopamine agonist" placebo (normal saline). Patients were crossed over to the alternate arm approximately 4 hours later. Blinded motor assessments in the "practically defined off" state, before and after each intervention, included the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale motor subscale, the Purdue Pegboard Test, and a tapping task. Measurements of br

SUBMITTER: Espay AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4345649 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature