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Cited by 346Pain Management and Placebo EffectTreatment of Major DepressionPsychotherapy Techniques and Applications

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 46 of the 46 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Meta-analysis of the placebo response in antidepressant trials.

Rief, Winfried, Nestoriuc, Yvonne, Weiss, Sarah, Welzel, Eva, Barsky, Arthur J., Hofmann, Stefan G.·2009·Journal of Affective Disorders
DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2009.01.029
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Abstract

Unlabelled Improvements in placebo groups of antidepressant trials account for a major part of the expected drug effects. We aimed to determine overall effect sizes of placebo and drug effects in antidepressant trials, and to analyze whether the placebo effect in antidepressant trials also occurs for patient self-perception, general psychopathology, and quality of life.Methods Search terms covered different variants of pharmacotherapy for patients with depressive disorders from January 1980 to December 2005 in the databases Medline/Pubmed, PsychInfo and CENTRAL, a.o. We included RCTs with a placebo group and an antidepressant group in people with depression.Results We computed within group effect sizes for several outcome variables and integrated them using random-effect models. A total of 96 studies were included. Mean effect size in the placebo group for primary outcome variables was d=1.69 (95% CI=1.54-1.84) compared to 2.50 in the drug group (95% CI=2.30-2.69). There was a major difference between placebo effect sizes assessed with observer ratings (d=1.85, 95% CI=1.69-2.01) versus patient self-perception (d=0.67; 95% CI=0.49-0.85). The effect sizes in placebo groups in 2005 were more than twice as great as those in 1980, but only for observer ratings, not for patient self-ratings. The result was partly due to increased homogeneity of samples of recently published trials.Conclusions The placebo effect accounted for 68% of the effect in the drug groups. Whereas clinical trials need to control the placebo effect, clinical practice should attempt to use its full power.

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Metadata

Authors
Rief, W., Nestoriuc, Y., Weiss, S., Welzel, E., Barsky, A. J., & Hofmann, S. G.
Affiliations
  • Philipps University of Marburg (DE)
  • Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
  • Boston University (US)
Corresponding author
Rief, Winfried
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Affective Disorders
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2009-11
Volume
118
Issue
1-3
Pages
1-8
ISSN
0165-0327 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.jad.2009.01.029
OpenAlex
W2020001299
Cited by
346
References
46
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 48 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 23 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 26 · 2012: 11
FWCI
1.11
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Journal of Affective Disorders (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Pain Management and Placebo Effect
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology (medical) › Treatment of Major Depression
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
Keywords
placebo response, antidepressants, depression, placebo effect, antidepressant trials, observer ratings, patient self-perception, quality of life, psychopathology, effect size
MeSH terms
Antidepressive Agents, Depressive Disorder, Humans, Placebo Effect, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic

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