active placebo


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pla·ce·bo

(plă-sē'bō),
1. An inert substance given as a medicine for its suggestive effect.
2. An inert compound identical in appearance to material being tested in experimental research, which may or may not be known to the physician or patient, administered to distinguish between drug action and suggestive effect of the material under study.
Synonym(s): active placebo
[L. I will please, future of placeo]
A placebo with side effects similar to those of a therapeutic agent—administered in the context of a therapeutic trial, which would otherwise allow a patient to identify whether he/she is receiving drug or placebo—e.g., dry mouth with chlorpromazine

active placebo

Statistics A placebo with side effects similar to those of a therapeutic agent which would otherwise allow a Pt to identify whether he is receiving drug or placebo–eg, dry mouth is associated with chlorpromazine. See Placebo.

pla·ce·bo

(plă-sē'bō)
Inert substance given as a medicine for its suggestive effect.
Synonym(s): active placebo.
[L. I will please, future of placeo]
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References in periodicals archive ?
* Intervention: Four treatments were compared so that every patient received each treatment once: morphine, gabapentin, gabapentin/morphine combination, and active placebo (lorazepam).
Combination therapy for neuropathic pain
Pheasant et al[34] found no difference between amitriptyline and an active placebo (atropine) in decreasing functional disability as rated by a physician or as measured by patient responses to an activity-restriction questionnaire.
Do antidepressant medications relieve chronic low back pain?
Subsequent chapters address placebo design, active placebos, and other design features for identifying, minimizing, and characterizing placebo response; psychological processes that can bias responses; the case for changing the term "placebo effect"; effects in complementary and alternative medicine; meta-analyses and experimental studies; the role of desire, expectation, and reduced negative emotions in placebo anti-hyperalgesia in irritable bowel syndrome; placebo, pain, and surgery; placebo interventions for pain; how communication between clinicians and patients may impact pain perception; nocebos in daily clinical practice; recommendations for pain management; and ethical issues.
Placebo and pain; from bench to bedside
"Active placebos" are placebo/comparators in a study that mimic some of the side effects that would be expected on the experimental medication without providing any benefit for the indication being treated.
Study design: don't ruin a perfectly good product with a perfectly flawed study design
Norman Gaylis said that he believes the use of active placebos is "an inappropriate way to treat a patient." Giving a patient naproxen, for instance, "has potential for significant side effects in the kidney, so that's not a placebo," said Dr.
Survey shows wide use of active placebos

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