Doctors are Using Placebos More: About Half Prescribe Placebos, 60% Believe It's Ethically Acceptable

By: Ben Parr
October 24th, 2008

A new survey published in the British Medical Journal has uncovered some very interesting data on how physicians view and use placebos.

1200 practicing internists and rheumatologists in the United States were surveyed. Of those 1200, 679 doctors responded, and the results have created some talk amongst the news. Here are some of the most interesting information the survey uncovered:

• 62% of physicians believe that the practice of prescribing a placebo (giving a patient a treatment that has no theraputic benefit while allowing the patient to believe there is one) is ethically permissible.
• When prescribing placebos, doctors usually give a patient over the counter analgesics (41%), vitamins (38%), and sometimes antibiotics or sedatives (13% each)
• Doctors usually describe the placebo as potentially beneficial medicine or a treatment not usually associated with their condition (68%)
• Only 5% of physicians explicitly describe them as placebos

The numbers are surprising for a lot of people. Some doctors believe that this is not a cause for alarm - patients may feel better "taken care of" or may receive other benefits from vitamins or analgesics. Others physicians have voiced concern that prescribing sedatives or antibiotics can have unintended consequences to patients.

Regardless, this survey may be highlighting a new trend in health.

Posted by: Ben Parr

Source: Prescribing "placebo treatments": results of national survey of US internists and rheumatologists, British Medical Journal, 23 October 2008.

Additional Reading:

1) NSAIDs: Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs

2) Analgesics

3)Safe Use of COX-2 Inhibitors and Other NSAIDs