Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

The uncontrollable placebo effect

A Hróbjartsson1

  • 1Department of Medical Philosophy and Clinical Theory, Faculty of Health, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology
|January 1, 1996
PubMed
Summary

Clinical trials cannot fully isolate the placebo effect in control groups. Researchers suggest redefining groups to better reflect the uncontrollable nature of placebo effects in trial analysis.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Response to: ROBINS-E risk of bias tool.

Environment international·2025
Same author

Fertility after uterine artery embolization of fibroids: a systematic review.

Archives of gynecology and obstetrics·2017
Same author

Blinding in randomized clinical trials: imposed impartiality.

Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics·2011
Same author

The Osteoporosis Self-Assessment Tool versus alternative tests for selecting postmenopausal women for bone mineral density assessment: a comparative systematic review of accuracy.

Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA·2008
Same author

Impact of allocation concealment on conclusions drawn from meta-analyses of randomized trials.

International journal of epidemiology·2007
Same author

Blinded trials taken to the test: an analysis of randomized clinical trials that report tests for the success of blinding.

International journal of epidemiology·2007

Area of Science:

  • Clinical Trial Methodology
  • Medical Philosophy
  • Psychoneuroimmunology

Background:

  • The control group is a cornerstone in evaluating treatment efficacy.
  • Assessing the placebo effect is crucial for understanding treatment outcomes.
  • Current methodologies face challenges in isolating the placebo effect.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To critically analyze the role and limitations of the control group in clinical trials evaluating the placebo effect.
  • To investigate the inherent uncontrollability of the placebo effect within existing trial designs.

Main Methods:

  • Theoretical methodological analysis.
  • Examination of clinical trial designs for placebo effect evaluation.

Main Results:

  • Existing clinical trial designs cannot definitively exclude the placebo effect from control groups.
  • The placebo effect is inherently uncontrollable in current trial methodologies.
  • This leads to an underestimation of the absolute placebo effect.

Conclusions:

  • Proposes replacing "control group" and "placebo treatment group" with "placebo effect maximising group" and "placebo effect minimising group".
  • Emphasizes that trials measure a relative, not absolute, placebo effect.
  • Acknowledges the illusion of absolute placebo effect evaluation in interpreting empirical trial results.

Related Experiment Videos