Seizure : the journal of the British Epilepsy Association
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Review Meta Analysis
Nocebo effect in refractory partial epilepsy during pre-surgical monitoring: Systematic review and meta-analysis of placebo-controlled clinical trials.
Nocebo is very prevalent among neurological diseases resulting in low adherence and treatment outcome. We sought to examine the AEs following placebo administration in Randomized Controlled Studies (RCTs) for Epilepsy. ⋯ Very limited epilepsy RCTs with pure placebo groups are available and all are in treatment resistant patients during pre-surgical monitoring. However, our study indicates a significant nocebo effect in trials for epilepsy treatment adversely affecting adherence and efficacy of current treatments in clinical practice, with additional implications for trial designing.