Placebo: Difference between revisions
imported>Howard C. Berkowitz (New page: {{subpages}} A '''placebo''' is any dummy medication or treatment. Placebos originally were medicinal preparations having no specific pharmacological activity against a targeted condition....) |
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A '''placebo''' is any | A '''placebo''' is any medication or treatment expected to have no physiological effect; the generally synonymous term '''sham treatment''' is sometimes used to describe a surgical or other procedure, more visible than a pill. Placebos originally were medicinal preparations having no specific pharmacological activity against a targeted condition. They have been used as a means of suggestion to individual patients, but their more common use is as a control arm of a [[randomized controlled trial]]. | ||
The World Medical Organization's interpretation of the Declaration of Helsinki, says [[Informed consent#Use of placebo|placebo controls are unethical if]] there is a standard treatment for the disease being studied. When no treatment is available, placebo controls are ethical. This is by no means agreed by all medical scientists. | The World Medical Organization's interpretation of the Declaration of Helsinki, says [[Informed consent#Use of placebo|placebo controls are unethical if]] there is a standard treatment for the disease being studied. When no treatment is available, placebo controls are ethical. This is by no means agreed by all medical scientists. | ||
Revision as of 14:00, 12 October 2008
A placebo is any medication or treatment expected to have no physiological effect; the generally synonymous term sham treatment is sometimes used to describe a surgical or other procedure, more visible than a pill. Placebos originally were medicinal preparations having no specific pharmacological activity against a targeted condition. They have been used as a means of suggestion to individual patients, but their more common use is as a control arm of a randomized controlled trial.
The World Medical Organization's interpretation of the Declaration of Helsinki, says placebo controls are unethical if there is a standard treatment for the disease being studied. When no treatment is available, placebo controls are ethical. This is by no means agreed by all medical scientists.