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The power of placebo

The power of placebo
By Damian McCleod Uncategorized October 15, 2018

Is there more to the placebo effect than bedside manner?

When any meta analysis of acupuncture illustrates a low response rate, the word placebo is used as a pejorative, but it’s much more than that. As Ted Kaptchuck illustrates in his TED Talk, when the mere words on pill labeling was switched, there was a significant change in patient response — so what does that say about the efficacy of some drugs?. There seems to be a blatant double standard applied to the efficacy of a treatment when it’s acupuncture.

20 most common drugs
2 Turns out, acetaminophen, a common pain reliever, is the leading cause of acute liver failure.

The chart in this meta analysis shows a list of drugs used for the 20 most common therapies, of which, approximately 25% show between a medium and large positive patient response to the drug.

Having a low to minimum efficacy is the best outcome when compared to some of the more insidious effects, as quoted below.

In the midst of a growing opioid epidemic, do we have a collective responsibility to shift to a integrative approach to pain management? According the 3CDC, from 2014 — 2018, opioid deaths rose from 47,523 to 68,690 (a 45.5% increase).

References

1https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-015-0494-1

2https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/did-you-know-that-this-common-drug-may-cause-liver-failure/articleshow/66180165.cms

3https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm