Placebo

A placebo is an inactive treatment or procedure designed to mimic as closely as possible a therapy in a clinical trial.

Capsules

Definition and Types

The term "placebo" originates from the Latin for "I shall please." In medical research, a placebo is typically a tablet, capsule, or injection that looks identical to the treatment being studied but contains no active ingredients. It can also be a procedure, such as a sham surgery, where no actual treatment is provided.

Purpose in Clinical Trials

Placebos are used in double-blind studies to help understand the effect of a new treatment. Participants are randomly assigned to a treatment group or a placebo group, and neither the participants nor the researchers know which group they are in. This helps to prevent biases in interpreting the results.

The Placebo Effect

The placebo effect is the phenomenon where people experience a perceived improvement in their condition due to the belief that they are receiving treatment. This can involve psychological factors such as expectations, conditioning, and the therapeutic interaction between the patient and healthcare provider.

Ethical Considerations

While placebos are a powerful tool for understanding the efficacy of treatments, their use raises ethical issues. Deception is often involved in the use of placebos, which can undermine trust and informed consent. The use of placebos is generally considered ethical when there are no proven treatments for a condition, or when withholding treatment does not cause significant harm.

Summary

An innocuous or inert medication; given as a pacifier or to the control group in experiments on the efficacy of a drug.

See Also

• Randomized controlled trial
• Clinical trial
• Blinding (clinical trials)

References

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