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Placebo effects in low back pain: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of the literature

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The current treatments of primary musculoskeletal low back pain (LBP) have a low to moderate efficacy, which might be improved by looking at the contribution of placebo effects. However, the size of true placebo effects in LBP is unknown. Therefore, a systematic review and...

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Autores principales: van Lennep, Johan (Hans) Peter Alexander, Trossèl, Faye, Perez, Roberto Silvio Giovanni Maria, Otten, René Hubert Joseph, van Middendorp, Henriët, Evers, Andrea Walburga Maria, Szadek, Karolina Maria
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8518410/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34051018
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ejp.1811
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author van Lennep, Johan (Hans) Peter Alexander
Trossèl, Faye
Perez, Roberto Silvio Giovanni Maria
Otten, René Hubert Joseph
van Middendorp, Henriët
Evers, Andrea Walburga Maria
Szadek, Karolina Maria
author_facet van Lennep, Johan (Hans) Peter Alexander
Trossèl, Faye
Perez, Roberto Silvio Giovanni Maria
Otten, René Hubert Joseph
van Middendorp, Henriët
Evers, Andrea Walburga Maria
Szadek, Karolina Maria
author_sort van Lennep, Johan (Hans) Peter Alexander
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The current treatments of primary musculoskeletal low back pain (LBP) have a low to moderate efficacy, which might be improved by looking at the contribution of placebo effects. However, the size of true placebo effects in LBP is unknown. Therefore, a systematic review and meta‐analysis were executed of randomized controlled trials investigating placebo effects in LBP. DATABASES AND DATA TREATMENT: The study protocol was registered in the international prospective register of systematic reviews Prospero (CRD42019148745). A literature search (in PubMed, Embase, The Cochrane Library, CINAHL and PsycINFO) up to 2021 February 16th yielded 2,423 studies. Two independent reviewers assessed eligibility and risk of bias. RESULTS: Eighteen studies were eligible for the systematic review and 5 for the meta‐analysis. Fourteen of the 18 studies were clinical treatment studies, and 4 were experimental studies specifically assessing placebo effects. The clinical treatment studies provided varying evidence for placebo effects in chronic LBP but insufficient evidence for acute and subacute LBP. Most experimental studies investigating chronic LBP revealed significant placebo effects. The meta‐analysis of 5 treatment studies investigating chronic LBP depicted a significant moderate effect size of placebo for pain intensity (SMD = 0.57) and disability (SMD = 0.52). CONCLUSIONS: This review shows a significant contribution of placebo effects to chronic LBP symptom relief in clinical and experimental conditions. The meta‐analysis revealed that placebo effects can influence chronic LBP intensity and disability. However, additional studies are required for more supporting evidence and evidence for placebo effects in acute or subacute LBP. SIGNIFICANCE: This systematic review and meta‐analysis provides evidence of true placebo effects in low back pain (LBP). It shows a significant contribution of placebo effects to chronic LBP symptom relief. The results highlight the importance of patient‐ and context‐related factors in fostering treatment effects in this patient group. New studies could provide insight into the potential value of actively making use of placebo effects in clinical practice.
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spelling pubmed-85184102021-10-21 Placebo effects in low back pain: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of the literature van Lennep, Johan (Hans) Peter Alexander Trossèl, Faye Perez, Roberto Silvio Giovanni Maria Otten, René Hubert Joseph van Middendorp, Henriët Evers, Andrea Walburga Maria Szadek, Karolina Maria Eur J Pain Review Articles BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The current treatments of primary musculoskeletal low back pain (LBP) have a low to moderate efficacy, which might be improved by looking at the contribution of placebo effects. However, the size of true placebo effects in LBP is unknown. Therefore, a systematic review and meta‐analysis were executed of randomized controlled trials investigating placebo effects in LBP. DATABASES AND DATA TREATMENT: The study protocol was registered in the international prospective register of systematic reviews Prospero (CRD42019148745). A literature search (in PubMed, Embase, The Cochrane Library, CINAHL and PsycINFO) up to 2021 February 16th yielded 2,423 studies. Two independent reviewers assessed eligibility and risk of bias. RESULTS: Eighteen studies were eligible for the systematic review and 5 for the meta‐analysis. Fourteen of the 18 studies were clinical treatment studies, and 4 were experimental studies specifically assessing placebo effects. The clinical treatment studies provided varying evidence for placebo effects in chronic LBP but insufficient evidence for acute and subacute LBP. Most experimental studies investigating chronic LBP revealed significant placebo effects. The meta‐analysis of 5 treatment studies investigating chronic LBP depicted a significant moderate effect size of placebo for pain intensity (SMD = 0.57) and disability (SMD = 0.52). CONCLUSIONS: This review shows a significant contribution of placebo effects to chronic LBP symptom relief in clinical and experimental conditions. The meta‐analysis revealed that placebo effects can influence chronic LBP intensity and disability. However, additional studies are required for more supporting evidence and evidence for placebo effects in acute or subacute LBP. SIGNIFICANCE: This systematic review and meta‐analysis provides evidence of true placebo effects in low back pain (LBP). It shows a significant contribution of placebo effects to chronic LBP symptom relief. The results highlight the importance of patient‐ and context‐related factors in fostering treatment effects in this patient group. New studies could provide insight into the potential value of actively making use of placebo effects in clinical practice. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021-06-21 2021-10 /pmc/articles/PMC8518410/ /pubmed/34051018 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ejp.1811 Text en © 2021 The Authors. European Journal of Pain published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Pain Federation ‐ EFIC ® https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Review Articles
van Lennep, Johan (Hans) Peter Alexander
Trossèl, Faye
Perez, Roberto Silvio Giovanni Maria
Otten, René Hubert Joseph
van Middendorp, Henriët
Evers, Andrea Walburga Maria
Szadek, Karolina Maria
Placebo effects in low back pain: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of the literature
title Placebo effects in low back pain: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of the literature
title_full Placebo effects in low back pain: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of the literature
title_fullStr Placebo effects in low back pain: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of the literature
title_full_unstemmed Placebo effects in low back pain: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of the literature
title_short Placebo effects in low back pain: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of the literature
title_sort placebo effects in low back pain: a systematic review and meta‐analysis of the literature
topic Review Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8518410/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34051018
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ejp.1811
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