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On Sat, Dec 19, 2009 at 06:14:03PM +0000, Simon Waters wrote: > Henry Bremridge wrote: > > > One thing that does annoy me is emphasis on the placebo effect when many > folks discuss fringe medical treatments. Whilst there is some evidence > for the placebo effect (improvement caused by believing you are being > effectively treated), a lot of the protocols used for clinical trials > are there to prevent problems with other confounding factors such as > natural progression (for many medical conditions people get better with > time), or patients giving doctors the results they believe the doctor wants. > > One of my friends insists on telling me that homeopathy can't be a > placebo effect if it works on animals or babies, and indeed if there > were evidence that it did work on animals or babies, rather than just > being perceived to work, I'd have to agree. > > There has been a number of serious scientific papers questioning the > size, relevance, and even existence of the placebo effect. One > meta-analysis of placebo controlled trials which also included an > untreated groups, showed no statistically significant improvement for > non-subjective outcomes (i.e. People on placebos claimed they felt > better, but when symptoms were objectively compared with the untreated > group there was no observable difference). So whilst I'm fairly > confident in the placebo effect being real, it isn't necessarily what > explains many of the results of medical treatments effective or > otherwise. It is also sloppy terminology to use it as a catch-all for > the other effects. > When I read that wikipedia article, I thought it raised a valid question: if even some patients get better taking something that cannot do them harm, is that a problem? (How much they pay for this is separate) Your point re catch-all for other effects, noted. Yes, was just getting irritated at snake-oil salesmen in general. -- Henry Photocopies or faxes of my signature are not binding. This email has been signed with an electronic signature in accordance with subsection 7(3) of the Electronic Communications Act 2000. Digital Key Signature: GPG RSA 0xFB447AA1 Sat Dec 19 18:37:34 GMT 2009
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