title: Placebo effect characteristics observed in a single, international, longitudinal study in Huntington's disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Classically, clinical trials are based on the placebo-control design. Our aim was to analyze the placebo effect in Huntington's disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  Placebo data were obtained from an international, longitudinal, placebo-controlled trial for Huntington's disease (European Huntington's Disease Initiative Study Group). One-hundred and eighty patients were evaluated using the Unified Huntington Disease Rating Scale over 36 months. A placebo effect was defined as an improvement of at least 50% over baseline scores in the Unified Huntington Disease Rating Scale, and clinically relevant when at least 10% of the population met it.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Only behavior showed a significant placebo effect, and the proportion of the patients with placebo effect ranged from 16% (first visit) to 41% (last visit). Nondepressed patients with better functional status were most likely to be placebo-responders over time.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In Huntington's disease, behavior seems to be more vulnerable to placebo than overall motor function, cognition, and function
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Hospital General Yagüe, Burgos, Spain. esthercubo@gmail.com
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cubo
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: González
authors.forename: Inés
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: del Puerto
authors.forename: Justo Garcia
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: de Yébenes
authors.forename: Olga Fernández
authors.initials: OF
authors.lastname: Arconada
authors.forename: José María Trejo
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gabriel y Galán
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D016206:Databases, Bibliographic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000628:therapy*; D038622:Internationality; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015990:Placebo Effect; D010919:Placebos / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D010919:Placebos