Individuals Benefit More From Placebos That They Are Told Cost More, Study Finds
Individuals who take identical placebos are more likely to experience pain relief from the placebo that they are told costs more, according to a study published on Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Reuters reports (Reuters, 3/5).
The study, sponsored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and led by Duke University behavioral economist Daniel Ariely, involved 82 healthy paid volunteers. All study participants received a brochure for a new opioid pain medication described as similar to codeine. Researchers told one group of study participants that the medication cost $2.50 per pill and one group that the treatment cost 10 cents per pill. All study participants took identical placebos.
About 85% of participants who took the placebo that researchers said cost $2.50 per pill reported pain relief, compared with 61% who took the placebo that researchers said cost 10 cents per pill, the study found (Rubin, USA Today, 3/5).
Ariely said, "We all know that we expect more from products with high prices and good names, and we wanted to see if these things could change how we react to pain medication," adding, "The answer seems to be yes." According to Ariely, the results of the study could help explain the reason that many patients report that lower-cost generic medications are less effective than brand-name treatments, although they have identical active ingredients (Gellene, Los Angeles Times, 3/5). He said, "The more practical point is, how do we give discounted pain medications without hurting people?" (USA Today, 3/5).
Guy Montgomery, an associate professor of cancer prevention at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine who was not involved in the study, said that the "manipulation of price affected expectancies of drug benefit, and pain is the ultimate mind-body phenomenon" (Carey, New York Times, 3/5).
An abstract of the study is available online.
