This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Ton J. M. Cleophas, MD, PhD
American College of Angiology Sliedrecht-Dordrecht, the Netherlands

JAMA. 1995;273(4):283.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—The issue of bias was not raised in the otherwise excellent article by Dr Turner and colleagues¹ on placebo effects. The point is that the placebo arm of a trial is particularly vulnerable to specific types of bias.

In clinical trials, as opposed to regular patient care, patients are generally highly compliant and have a good feeling about the trial because they think it will provide something from which they can benefit. They also do not want to disappoint the investigators who have taken so much interest in them. This wish not to disappoint may produce an enhanced placebo effect on the part of the participants. Investigators, on the other hand, may find it difficult or impossible to tell the complete truth about the dummy² and usually exaggerate the potential of the trial. Furthermore, many phase IV trials do not include a written informed consent . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?