Student or educator? Sign up with your school email and get 6 months of Pro free.
CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 207

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 12 of the 12 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

The magnitude of nocebo effects in pain: A meta-analysis

Open access
Petersen, Gitte Laue, Finnerup, Nanna Brix, Colloca, Luana, Amanzio, Martina, Price, Donald D., Jensen, Troels Staehelin, Vase, Lene·2014·Pain
DOI 10.1016/j.pain.2014.04.016
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

The investigation of nocebo effects is evolving, and a few literature reviews have emerged, although so far without quantifying such effects. This meta-analysis investigated nocebo effects in pain. We searched the databases PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, and the Cochrane Controlled Trial Register with the term "nocebo." Only studies that investigated nocebo effects as the effects that followed the administration of an inert treatment along with verbal suggestions of symptom worsening and that included a no-treatment control condition were eligible. Ten studies fulfilled the selection criteria. The effect sizes were calculated using Cohen's d and Hedges' g. The overall magnitude of the nocebo effect was moderate to large (lowest g=0.62 [0.24-1.01] and highest g=1.03 [0.63-1.43]) and highly variable (range of g=-0.43 to 4.05). The magnitudes and range of effect sizes was similar to those of placebo effects (d=0.81) in mechanistic studies. In studies in which nocebo effects were induced by a combination of verbal suggestions and conditioning, the effect size was larger (lowest g=0.76 [0.39-1.14] and highest g=1.17 [0.52-1.81]) than in studies in which nocebo effects were induced by verbal suggestions alone (lowest g=0.64 [-0.25 to 1.53] and highest g=0.87 [0.40-1.34]). These findings are similar to those in the placebo literature. As the magnitude of the nocebo effect is variable and sometimes large, this meta-analysis demonstrates the importance of minimizing nocebo effects in clinical practice.

Overview

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.pain.2014.04.016

Cites

12 of 12 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Verification

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Citations

Cites

Show all 12 references

Research works printed but not linked: 46

  1. Amanzio, 2011, Do we need a new procedure for the assessment of adverse events in anti-migraine clinical trials., Recent Pat CNS Drug Disc, 6, 41, 10.2174/157488911794079109 · DOI
  2. Amanzio, 2009, A systematic review of adverse effects in placebo groups of anti-migraine clinical trials., PAIN, 146, 261, 10.1016/j.pain.2009.07.010 · DOI · Paper page
  3. Beecher, 1955, The powerful placebo., J Am Med Assoc, 159, 1602, 10.1001/jama.1955.02960340022006 · DOI · Paper page
  4. Beedie, 2007, Positive and negative placebo effects resulting from the deceptive administration of an ergogenic aid., Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab, 17, 259, 10.1123/ijsnem.17.3.259 · DOI
  5. Benedetti, 2008, Mechanisms of placebo and placebo-related effects across diseases and treatments., Annu Rev Pharmacol Toxicol, 48, 33, 10.1146/annurev.pharmtox.48.113006.094711 · DOI · Paper page
  6. Benedetti, 1997, Blockade of nocebo hyperalgesia by the cholecystokinin antagonist proglumide., PAIN, 71, 135, 10.1016/S0304-3959(97)03346-0 · DOI · Paper page
  7. Bjorkedal, 2012, Expectations of increased and decreased pain explain the effect of conditioned pain modulation in females., J Pain Res, 5, 289, 10.2147/JPR.S33559 · DOI
  8. Chooi, 2010, Placebo vs. nocebo questioning for pain evaluation following caesarean section., Anaesth Intens Care, 38, 762
  9. Colloca, 2004, Overt versus covert treatment for pain, anxiety, and Parkinsons disease., Lancet Neurol, 3, 679, 10.1016/S1474-4422(04)00908-1 · DOI · Paper page
  10. Colloca, 2008, The role of learning in nocebo and placebo effects., PAIN, 136, 211, 10.1016/j.pain.2008.02.006 · DOI · Paper page
  11. Colloca, 2011, The nocebo effect and its relevance for clinical practice., Psychosom Med, 73, 598, 10.1097/PSY.0b013e3182294a50 · DOI · Paper page
  12. De La Cruz, 2010, Placebo and nocebo effects in randomized double-blind clinical trials of agents for the therapy for fatigue in patients with advanced cancer., Cancer, 116, 766, 10.1002/cncr.24751 · DOI
  13. Drici, 1995, Influence of the behaviour pattern on the nocebo response of healthy volunteers., Br J Clin Pharmacol, 39, 204, 10.1111/j.1365-2125.1995.tb04434.x · DOI
  14. Dworkin, 2011, Evidence-based clinical trial design for chronic pain pharmacotherapy: a blueprint for ACTION., PAIN, 152, 107, 10.1016/j.pain.2010.11.008 · DOI
  15. Fields, 1984, Painmechanics and management., West J Med, 141, 347
  16. Flaten, 1999, Drug-related information generates placebo and nocebo responses that modify the drug response., Psychosom Med, 61, 250, 10.1097/00006842-199903000-00018 · DOI · Paper page
  17. Hahn, 1997, The nocebo phenomenon: concept, evidence, and implications for public health., Prev Med, 26, 607, 10.1006/pmed.1996.0124 · DOI · Paper page
  18. Hedges, 1982, Estimation of effect size from a series of independent experiments., Psychol Bull, 92, 489, 10.1037/0033-2909.92.2.490 · DOI · Paper page
  19. Higgins, 2002, Quantifying heterogeneity in a meta-analysis., Stat Med, 21, 1539, 10.1002/sim.1186 · DOI · Paper page
  20. Hrobjartsson, 1996, The uncontrollable placebo effect., Eur J Clin Pharmacol, 50, 345, 10.1007/s002280050120 · DOI
  21. Hrobjartsson, 2001, Is the placebo powerless? An analysis of clinical trials comparing placebo with no treatment., N Engl J Med, 344, 1594, 10.1056/NEJM200105243442106 · DOI · Paper page
  22. Hrobjartsson, 2004, Placebo interventions for all clinical conditions., Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 3, CD003974
  23. Hrobjartsson, 2010, Placebo interventions for all clinical conditions., Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 1, CD003974
  24. Jensen, 2012, Nonconscious activation of placebo and nocebo pain responses., Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 109, 15959, 10.1073/pnas.1202056109 · DOI · Paper page
  25. Johansen, 2003, Placebo and nocebo responses, cortisol, and circulating beta-endorphin., Psychosom Med, 65, 786, 10.1097/01.PSY.0000082626.56217.CF · DOI
  26. Keitel, 2013, Motor and cognitive placebo-nocebo responses in Parkinsons disease patients with deep brain stimulation., Behav Brain Res, 250, 199, 10.1016/j.bbr.2013.04.051 · DOI
  27. Kennedy, 1961, The nocebo reaction., Med World, 95, 203
  28. Kessner, 2013, The effect of treatment history on therapeutic outcome: an experimental approach., JAMA Intern Med, 173, 1468, 10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.6705 · DOI
  29. Klosterhalfen, 2009, Gender and the nocebo response following conditioning and expectancy., J Psychosom Res, 66, 323, 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2008.09.019 · DOI
  30. Levine, 2006, The effects of manipulating expectations through placebo and nocebo administration on gastric tachyarrhythmia and motion-induced nausea., Psychosom Med, 68, 478, 10.1097/01.psy.0000221377.52036.50 · DOI · Paper page
  31. Liccardi, 2004, Evaluation of the nocebo effect during oral challenge in patients with adverse drug reactions., J Invest Allergy Clin Immunol, 14, 104
  32. Link, 2006, Placebonocebo symptom reporting in a sham herbal supplement trial., Eval Health Prof, 29, 394, 10.1177/0163278706293403 · DOI
  33. Lombardi, 2008, The nocebo effect during oral challenge in subjects with adverse drug reactions., Eur Ann Allergy Clin Immunol, 40, 138
  34. Lorenz, 2005, Cortical correlates of false expectations during pain intensity judgmentsa possible manifestation of placebonocebo cognitions., Brain Behav Immun, 19, 283, 10.1016/j.bbi.2005.03.010 · DOI
  35. Manchikanti, 2005, The role of placebo and nocebo effects of perioperative administration of sedatives and opioids in interventional pain management., Pain Phys, 8, 349, 10.36076/ppj.2005/8/349 · DOI
  36. Moher, 2009, PRISMA group. Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis: the PRISMA statement., J Clin Epidemiol, 62, 1006, 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2009.06.005 · DOI · Paper page
  37. Nicolodi, 2009, From nocebo effect to the hypothesis of nocebo and psychometric tests as entry criteria in headache trials., Cephalalgia, 29, 39
  38. Pollo, 2012, Preventing motor training through nocebo suggestions., Eur J Appl Physiol, 112, 3893, 10.1007/s00421-012-2333-9 · DOI
  39. Price, 2003, 3rd, Vase L. Reliable differences in placebo effects between clinical analgesic trials and studies of placebo analgesia mechanisms., PAIN, 104, 715, 10.1016/S0304-3959(03)00165-9 · DOI
  40. Scott, 2008, Placebo and nocebo effects are defined by opposite opioid and dopaminergic responses., Arch Gen Psychiatry, 65, 220, 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2007.34 · DOI · Paper page
  41. Stovner, 2008, Nocebo as headache trigger: evidence from a sham-controlled provocation study with RF fields., Acta Neurol Scand, 117, 67, 10.1111/j.1600-0404.2008.01035.x · DOI
  42. Van Laarhoven, 2011, Induction of nocebo and placebo effects on itch and pain by verbal suggestions., PAIN, 152, 1486, 10.1016/j.pain.2011.01.043 · DOI · Paper page
  43. Varelmann, 2010, Nocebo-induced hyperalgesia during local anesthetic injection., Anesth Analg, 110, 868, 10.1213/ANE.0b013e3181cc5727 · DOI · Paper page
  44. Vase, 2003, The contribution of suggestion, desire, and expectation to placebo effects in irritable bowel syndrome patients. An empirical investigation., PAIN, 105, 17, 10.1016/S0304-3959(03)00073-3 · DOI · Paper page
  45. Vase, 2009, 3rd, Price DD. Factors contributing to large analgesic effects in placebo mechanism studies conducted between 2002 and 2007., PAIN, 145, 36, 10.1016/j.pain.2009.04.008 · DOI · Paper page
  46. Vernia, 2010, Diagnosis of lactose intolerance and the nocebo effect: the role of negative expectations., Digest Liver Dis, 42, 616, 10.1016/j.dld.2010.02.005 · DOI

Cited by

See all 207

Metadata

Authors
Petersen, G. L., Finnerup, N. B., Colloca, L., Amanzio, M., Price, D. D., Jensen, T. S., & Vase, L.
Venue
Pain
Publisher
Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Published
2014-08
Volume
155
Issue
8
Pages
1426-1434
ISSN
0304-3959 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.pain.2014.04.016
OpenAlex
W2095485327
Cited by
207
References
12
FWCI
1.32
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
green
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review

How to cite

Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.

This page
CoChat. (2026). Citation check: The magnitude of nocebo effects in pain: A meta-analysis. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1016/j.pain.2014.04.016
The paper
Petersen, G. L., Finnerup, N. B., Colloca, L., Amanzio, M., Price, D. D., Jensen, T. S., & Vase, L. (2014). The magnitude of nocebo effects in pain: A meta-analysis. Pain. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pain.2014.04.016

Data sources

Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.

Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.