[lit-ideas] Re: The flu
- From: "Andreas Ramos" <andreas@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2004 15:49:27 -0800
> Colds and other sickness relief is often a result of the
> placebo effect. The placebo effect is so powerful and so
> quantitatively measurable that people with Parkinson's disease and
> knee problems have reported improvement of symptoms from placebo
> treatments. It might be why chicken soup "works".
There is no placebo effect.
Researchers put patients with diseases in three groups: Group 1 got treatment,
Group 2 got a
placebo, and Group 3 got nothing.
Group 2 and 3 had the same results (some got better, some got sicker). The
placebo had no
effect.
The explanation is that if you get sick, most likely, you'll get better very
soon anyway.
Most people shake off most illnesses anyway, REGARDLESS of what they do (take
chicken soup,
vitamin C, dance with serpents, pray to their local sun god, a shot of whiskey,
etc.) or do
nothing about it at all.
See the study by A. Hróbjartsson & P. C. Götzsche, 2001 on the placebo effect.
"A. Hróbjartsson & P. C. Götzsche found that in many studies where a control
group was used
that did not get any treatment at all, the effects in the no-treatment group
were almost
equal to the effects in the placebo group. Most studies however only use a
placebo group as
control. The authors concluded that the placebo effect is overrated, and that
studies in the
future should have a no-treatment group when possible, to make sure that
effects would not
be attributed to a placebo effect while they are totally natural effects that
would have
occurred anyway. In a follow-up study (A. Hróbjartsson & P. C. Götzsche, 2004)
the same
authors were able to confirm their previous results and concluded: "We found no
evidence of
a generally large effect of placebo interventions. A possible small effect on
patient-reported continuous outcomes, especially pain, could not be clearly
distinguished
from bias".
yrs,
andreas
www.andreas.com
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