Medical Hypotheses
Volume 59, Issue 3 , Pages 227-232 , September 2002

In randomized controlled trials, should subjects in both placebo and drug groups be expected to guess that they are taking drug 50% of the time?

  • N.A Desbiens

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence to: Norman A. Desbiens MD, Department of Medicine, University of Tennessee College of Medicine–Chattanooga Unit, 975 East Third Street, Box 94, Chattanooga, Tennessee 37403, USA. Phone: 423-778-2998; Fax: 423-778-2611

Received 13 August 2001 ,Accepted 19 December 2001.

References 

  1. Shapiro AK, Shapiro E. The history of the double-blind procedure. In: The Powerful Pacebo. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press; 1997;p. 137–174
  2. Spiro H. Clinical reflections on the placebo phenomenon. In:  Harrington A editors. The Placebo Effect—An Interdisciplinary Exploration. Cambridge: Harvard University Press; 1997;p. 37–55
  3. Fair BM, Gwaltney JM. The problems of taste in placebo matching: an evaluation of zinc gluconate for the common cold. J. Chronic Dis. 1987;40:875–879
  4. Stallone F, Mendlewicz J, Fieve RR. Double-blind procedure: an assessment in a study of lithium prophylaxis. Psychol. Med. 1975;5:78–82
  5. Goodnow RE, Beecher HK, Brazier MAB, et al.  Physiological performance following a hypnotic dose of a barbiturate. J. Pharm. Exper. Ther. 1951;102:55–61
  6. Ney PG, Collins C, Spensor C. Double blind: double talk or are there ways to do better research. Med. Hypotheses. 1986;21:119–126
  7. Kienle GS, Kiene H. Placebo effect and placebo concept: a critical methodological an conceptual analysis of reports on the magnitude of the placebo effect. Altern. Ther. Health Med. 1996;2:39–53
  8. Kaptchuk TJ. Powerful placebo: the dark side of the randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 1998;351:1722–1725
  9. Jacobs KW, Nordan FM. Classification of placebo drugs: effect of color. Percept. Mot. Skills. 1979;49:367–372
  10. Brownell KD, Stunkard AJ. The double-blind in danger: untoward consequences of informed consent. Am. J. Psychiatry. 1982;139:1487–1489
  11. Shapiro AK, Shapiro E. How blind is blind?. In: The Powerful Placebo. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press; 1997;p. 190–216
  12. Eddy DM. Clinical policies and the quality of clinical practice. In: Clinical Decision Making—From Theory To Practice. Sudbury (MA): Jones and Bartlett Publishers; 1996;p. 297–307
  13. Echt DS, Liebson PR, Mitchell LB, et al.  Mortality and morbidity in patients receiving encainide, flecainide, or placebo. The Cardiac Arrhythmia Suppression Trial. N. Engl. J. Med. 1991;324:781–788
  14. Desbiens NA. Lessons learned in attempts to establish the blind in placebo-controlled trials of zinc for the common cold. Ann. Intern. Med. 2000;133:302–303

PII: S0306-9877(02)00205-0

Medical Hypotheses
Volume 59, Issue 3 , Pages 227-232 , September 2002