Questions tagged [placebo]
The placebo tag has no usage guidance.
19 questions
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How does the placebo affect physical illnesses?
As a physicist, I was surprised by coming to realization that placebo can actually affect physical illnesses. I searched on the internet, but explanations for mechanism of placebo were either unclear (...
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Did covid vaccine studies use an active placebo (with side effects)?
I know that the studies done by Pfizer, et al, used standard methods with a placebo control group. If you read about blinded experiments here, it mentions:
A common cause for unblinding is the ...
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Are there actual cases where a placebo prescription or fake treatment has improved the patient's condition? I need one or two disclosed cases about it
Placebo prescriptions or fake treatments work for people who believe they are ill, and it can actually improve the patient's condition.
Are there actual cases where a placebo has improved the patient'...
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Do experimenters in clinical trials refuse to give a placebo to a patient depending on his condition?
In clinical trials to test a new drug, typically there is a group who takes the new drug and another group which gets another already existing drug which is supposed to be effective or a placebo. Each ...
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How do pharmaceutical companies deal with people who received a placebo?
I would like to know what happens to the people in the vaccine studies who received a placebo.
Essentially they have not been vaccinated. However, in order for the study to stay blind so that long ...
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If placebo controls work even when the patient is aware that the treatment is a placebo. Why are deceptive placebo controls used?
Placebos are “fake” treatments prescribed for the psychological benefit to the patient rather than for any physiological effect. Placebos are used for conditions defined by “self-observation” symptoms ...
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The placebo effect [closed]
Is it possible to eliminate the groups of placebos in all those clinical trials that have a precision medicine nature? Since if it is precision medicine, it is supposed to cure 100% of those affected ...
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When would a placebo/control group *not* be used in medical research?
Related:
Why use a placebo in some potential COVID-19 vaccine trials?
What is the point of a placebo in studies where the subject can determine their group?
The answers to the questions above give ...
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Why use a placebo in some potential COVID-19 vaccine trials?
With potential COVID-19 vaccine trials beginning around the globe, one vaccine approach is to induce the creation of antibodies in the participants.
The first phase of the trial will check whether ...
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Prevent-Release Systems for Opioid Painkillers Vs Placebo
today we were studying oral novel drug delivery systems. The class was prerecorded (due to pandemic) There was this table in the slides "strategies and benefits of modifying drug release table" and I ...
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Effects of placebo on viral load in tests for effectiveness of a drug combination for COVID-19
I have very little background in Medicine, pardon me for that. I came across this reference recently. Loosely speaking, this study aims at testing the effect of azithromycin and hydroxychloroquin for ...
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Study about beliefs overriding drug effect
Now placebo is one thing that is documented and proven.
However, I came across the following which claims that our beliefs can override drug effect:
One researcher in this field, Dr. Henry Beecher ...
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What is the point of a placebo in studies where the subject can determine their group?
It was my understanding that "the placebo effect" operated mostly by a mechanism based upon the subject's belief that they may have obtained an active ingredient.
I am reading some articles about ...
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Are there any apparent flaws in the methodology of Wilhelm et. al. 2016?
Wilhelm et. al. 2016 is a meta-analysis of 23 placebo controlled beta-blocker studies. The attempt of the study was to indicate what fraction of the beta-blocker's effect was due to the placebo effect....
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Does a treatment X vs. placebo study qualify as a "comparative study"?
I wonder whether a study comparing medical treatment with a placebo qualifies as a "comparative study".
Looking at PubMed's MeSH tags, I don't see much consistency:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...
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Does rubbing a nettle sting with a dock leaf actually help? How?
From a young age we were taught that the treatment for a nettle sting was to rub it with a dock leaf. Conveniently, docks usually grow close to where there are nettles.
Does this actually do ...
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Is there any proof that acupuncture is an effective pain remedy?
I have heard of acupuncture being used for pain management. Are there clear scientific proofs that indicate it is more effective than a placebo treatment for pain? If so what types of pain has it ...
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Is there a proven way to test if I'm susceptible to the placebo effect?
I know there are tests to check if a single drug is useful or useless by arranging groups of people where half receive the actual drug and half receive the placebo, but those are testing the drug, not ...
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Can a banana peel cure a plantar wart?
I have a large plantar wart (a wart on the bottom of my foot). It's been resistant to freezing and acid. My dermatologist said I just need to wait until my immune system is ready to get rid of it, and ...
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