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A comment on Most statin problems caused by mysterious 'nocebo effect', study suggests. Parent comment

Re:Most statin problems caused by mysterious 'nocebo effect'... by rozab on Sunday November 15, 2020 @06:53PM (#25106195)
Isn't that description completely incomprehensible? It seems to be saying (in a roundabout way) that each participant was part of all 3 groups, with them taking the drug, placebo and nothing for a third of the year. There's a reason studies don't do this, it adds a great deal of complexity and room for error.

It's also not at all clear what symptoms the participants are rating. Are they symptoms of their underlying condition, common side effects of the drug, or side effects they had experienced previously?

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Re:Most statin problems caused by mysterious 'nocebo effect'... by boomboomsubban on Sunday November 15, 2020 @09:40PM (#25107360)
>It's also not at all clear what symptoms the participants are rating

I don't see how this matters? If the symptoms were the cause of the underlying condition, they would show up roughly as often between "no pill" and "placebo."

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