The observational clinical study of the placebo effect and development to counseling therapy of medicine

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24590631
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Medical sociology
• Research Institution: Keio University
• Principal Investigator: ISAWA Minae 慶應義塾大学, 薬学部, 研究員 (10338006)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): NAKASHIMA Emi 慶應義塾大学, 薬学部, 教授 (90115254) ; SAKATANI Kaoru 日本大学, 工学部, 教授 (90244350)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: プラセボ / 服薬カウンセリング / 脳科学的研究 / NIRS

Outline of Final Research Achievements

An explanation to patients of the anticipated pharmacological effects of drugs may serve to improve compliance and to enhance treatment benefit via subjective factors. Factors influencing the placebo effect may include expectation, cognition and conditioning. Therefore, counseling may influence the magnitude of the placebo effect.
Here, we aimed to examine the effectiveness of counseling (advice to subjects about its expected efficacy) as a means of improving the stress-reducing efficacy of aromatherapy and a revitalizing medicinal product, using both subjective and objective indicators. They completed a self-reported questionnaire and multi-dimensional fatigue inventory-20 (MFI-20) as subjective indicators, and blood flow in the inferior frontal cortex was evaluated by means of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) as an objective indicator. Overall, the results indicated that counseling intervention increased the effectiveness of both aromatherapy and the revitalizing medicinal product.

Free Research Field

一般用医薬品学