Table 1 Summary of adverse effects in placebo groups within trials
Author | Disease | Trials (no patients in placebo group) | Adverse events (%) | Dropouts due to intolerance (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Amanzio, 2009 | Migraine | |||
NSAID placebos | 10 (337) | 4.16 | 1.00 | |
Triptans placebos | 3 (289) | 2.08 | 0.39 | |
Anticonvulsant placebos | 6 (142) | 5.57 | 7.71 | |
Häuser, 2012a | Fibromyalgia | 58 (5027) | 59.90 | 9.60 |
Painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy | 62 (5086) | 46.20 | 5.80 | |
Häuser, 2012b | Fibromyalgia syndrome | 18 (3546) | 10.90 | |
Koog, 2014a | Any treated by acupuncture | 58 (2249) | 13 | 1.36 |
Koog, 2014b | Knee osteoarthritis | 281 (22,284) | 27 | 4.80 |
Mahr, 2017 | Any | 231 (149,855) | 73 | 5.10 |
Mahr, 2017 (additional) | ||||
Meister, 2017 | Depression | 23 (2929) | 57.00 | 4.00 |
Mitsikostas, 2010 | Headaches | 56 (n/a) | ||
Symptomatic treatments | n/a (n/a) | 18.45 | 0.33 | |
Prophylactic treatments | n/a (n/a) | 42.78 | 4.75 | |
Mitsikostas, 2012 | Fibromyalgia | 16 (2016) | 67.20 | 9.50 |
Mitsikostas, 2014 | Depression | 21 (3255) | 44.70 | 4.50 |
Papadopoulos, 2010 | Multiple sclerosis | |||
Symptomatic treatments | 44 (1732) | 25.30 | 2.10 | |
Disease-modifying treatments | 56 (5623) | 74.42 | 2.34 | |
Papadopoulos, 2012 | Neuropathic pain | 12 (943) | 52 | 6.00 |
Rief, 2006 | Cardiovascular disease | 17.61 | ||
Rief, 2009 | Depression or anxiety | 143 (12,742) | 24.70 | |
TCA studies | ||||
SSRI studies | ||||
Rojas-Mirquez, 2014 | Depression | 16 (739) | 64% | |
Shafiq, 2017 | Motor neuron disease | 12 (1288) | 78.30 | 8.40 |
Silva, 2017 | Restless leg syndrome | 72 (5040) | 45.36 | 2.07 |
Stathis, 2013 | Parkinson’s disease | 41 (3544) | 64.70 | 8.80 |
Zis, 2015 | Alzheimer’s disease | 20 (3049) | 57.80 | 6.60 |
Zis, 2017 | Refractory partial epilepsy (during pre-surgical monitoring) | 4 (125) | 76.80 | 3.20 |
Median (IQR) | 49.1% (25.8–64.5%) | 5% (2.3–8.4%) | ||