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Evid Based Med 7:11 doi:10.1136/ebm.7.1.11
  • Therapeutics

Review: placebo is better than no treatment for subjective continuous outcomes and for treatment of pain

Placebo v no treatment for various conditions*

Outcomes at end of treatment Binary outcomes (pooled relative risk [95% CI]) Continuous outcomes (pooled standardised mean difference [CI])
*Negative values favour placebo.
†Not significant.
Laboratory data 0.92 (0.73 to 1.17)† 0.18 (0.02 to 0.33)
Objective, without patient cooperation 0.89 (0.66 to 1.20)† −0.25 (−0.5 to −0.01)
Objective, with patient cooperation 0.84 (0.52 to 1.36)† −0.21 (−0.44 to 0.02)†
Subjective and observable 0.93 (0.77 to 1.11)† −0.41 (−0.61 to −0.20)
Subjective and non-observable 0.97 (0.89 to 1.07)† −0.35 (−0.48 to −0.22)

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