The conclusion of Kooga et al. [1] that ‘‘the nocebo effect of acupuncture is clinically meaningful and the rate of patients with any adverse event may be a more appropriate indicator of the nocebo effect’’ deserves some comments. First, opposing placebo and nocebo is a misconception. Indeed, conditioning and expectations are the main factors triggering a response, whether positive or negative....

Pharmacogenetic testing holds great promise to improve health outcomes and reduce adverse drug responses through enhanced selection of therapeutic agents. Since drug responses can be manipulated by verbal suggestions, it is of particular interest to understand the potential impact of pharmacogenetic test results on drug response. Placebo and nocebo-like effects may be possible due to the sugges...

1 Oftedal G, Wilen J, Sandstrom M, Mild KH. Symptoms experienced in connection with mobile phone use.Occup Med 2000;50:237-45. 2 Hyland GJ. Physics and biology of mobile telephony. Lancet 2000;356:1833-6. 3 Koivisto M,Haarala C, Krause CM,Revonsuo A, Laine M,Hamalainen H. GSM phone signal does not produce subjective symptoms. Bioelectromagnetics 2001;22:212-5. 4 Hocking B. Preliminary report: s...

A useful way to summarize the placebo-nocebo theme is to consider the tension and interaction between conviction and responsibility. With the conviction of the mainstream biomedical paradigm prevalent today, it would be tempting to say to Dr. Engel's patient: "That question is nonsense. Cancer pain is not classified as 'male' or 'female.' Pain varies with location in the body and other factors....

Background: Placebo and nocebo responses have important consequences for the development of pharmaceutical drugs design randomized controlled trials (RCTs). They can lead to incorrect measurement treatment-related efficacy adverse effects (AEs). Objectives: The goal this study was evaluate frequency magnitude placebo in placebo-controlled RCTs non-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) biologics Janus kin...

Expectation of treatment side effects is consistently linked with those symptoms being realised. Patient expectations, including those generated by the informed consent process, can have a large influence on the side effects that patients feel after starting a new medical treatment. Such symptoms may be the result of the nocebo effect, whereby the expectation of side effects leads to them being...