Impact of placebo arms on outcomes in antidepressant trials: systematic review and meta-regression analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

There is debate in the literature as to whether inclusion of a placebo arm may alter characteristics of antidepressant trials. However, previous research has focused on response rates of various antidepressants on average only, ignoring potential differences among drugs or other aspects of trial findings. Little is known about the impact of a placebo arm on all-cause dropout and dropout due to adverse events.

Methods

We carried out a systematic review of published and unpublished double-blind randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for the acute treatment of unipolar major depression (update: January 2016). The probability of being allocated to placebo (π) was the exposure of interest, and we examined its influence on responders (efficacy), all-cause dropouts (accepta

SUBMITTER: Salanti G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6208275 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature