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The Placebo Effect in Asthma

  • ASTHMA (WJ CALHOUN AND SP PETERS, SECTION EDITORS)
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Abstract

The placebo effect is a complex phenomenon occurring across a variety of clinical conditions. While much placebo research has been conducted in diseases defined by self-report such as depression, chronic pain, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), asthma has been proposed as a useful model because of its easily measured objective outcomes. Studies examining the placebo response in asthma have not only contributed to an understanding of the mechanisms behind the placebo response but also shed an interesting light on the current treatment and diagnosis of asthma. This paper will review current literature on placebos in general and specifically on the placebo response in asthma. It focuses on what we know about the mechanisms behind the placebo effect, whether there is a specific portion of the population who responds to placebos, which patient outcomes are influenced by the placebo effect, and whether the effect can be augmented.

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Compliance with Ethics Guidelines

Conflict of Interest

Stefanie Dutile declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Ted J Kaptchuk declares that he is supported by NCCAM/NIH grant # 2 K24 AT004095.

Michael E. Wechsler declares personal consulting fees from GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Cephalon/Teva, Sepracor/Sunovion, NKT Therapeutics, Asthmatx/BSCI, Genzyme, MapPharma, Genentech, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck, Regeneron, and MedImmune outside the submitted work.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Stefanie Dutile

  2. Program in Placebo Studies, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Ted J. Kaptchuk

  3. Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, National Jewish Health, 1400 Jackson St, Denver, CO, 80206, USA

    Michael E. Wechsler

Authors
  1. Stefanie Dutile
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  2. Ted J. Kaptchuk
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  3. Michael E. Wechsler
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Correspondence to Michael E. Wechsler.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Asthma

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Dutile, S., Kaptchuk, T.J. & Wechsler, M.E. The Placebo Effect in Asthma. Curr Allergy Asthma Rep 14, 456 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11882-014-0456-2

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