The placebo effect in people with asthma is so strong that they feel just as well as if they are receiving drugs that improve respiratory function, rather than just simulating it, a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found.
– Placebo does not improve the expiratory efficiency of patients in terms of physiology, but makes them feel as if they were receiving a drug showing such an effect – emphasizes the co-author of the study, Prof. Ted J. Kaptchuk of Harvard Medical School. In his opinion, this proves how powerful the treatment ritual itself shows.
Placebo is a substance or, for example, some treatment with neutral effect, offered to the patient as a therapy. It has no healing properties, e.g. it does not cure cancer, but it can relieve pain, alleviate digestive problems (caused by chemotherapy) or lower blood pressure (associated with severe stress). The sick person just needs to be convinced that what he receives will help him.
A new study, commissioned by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, was to show whether placebo in patients with asthma improves respiratory efficiency or only well-being.
The observations were carried out on 39 asthmatics. They alternately received three types of therapy: albuterol (a drug used in inhalations that dilates the bronchi and facilitates airflow – PAP), a neutral agent also administered by inhalation, and sham acupuncture (where the body was not punctured, which are usually used in it).
After completing all three steps, it was found that albuterol was 20 percent lower. improved the respiratory efficiency of patients. In the case of the other two therapies in which the placebo effect was used, it improved by only 7 percent.
However, the feelings of the sick were much different. They were convinced that both types of inhalation (with the drug and in the form of a placebo) worked almost equally effectively. While albuterol, in their opinion, improved respiratory efficiency by 50 percent, the sham drug increased it by 45 percent, and simulated acupuncture – by 46 percent. Even the lack of any therapy improved the well-being of patients by 21%.
Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, says the study’s findings make people wonder how reliable are patients’ claims about how they feel and how they feel. – Should the doctor give up further treatment when the patient claims that he or she feels well after the treatment? – asks the American specialist in a statement for HealthDay.
The authors of the studies argue that doctors should not be guided by statements about the well-being of patients after the therapy. For asthma, rely more on lung function tests. Also in clinical trials, taking into account only the subjective feelings of patients may be unreliable. (PAP)