Placebo effect characteristics observed in a single, international, longitudinal study in Huntington's disease

• Published in: Movement disorders Vol. 27; no. 3; pp. 439 - 442
• Main Authors: Cubo, Esther, González, Miguel, del Puerto, Inés, de Yébenes, Justo Garcia, Arconada, Olga Fernández, Gabriel y Galán, José María Trejo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01.03.2012; Wiley
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Biological and medical sciences; clinical trials; Clinical Trials as Topic; Databases, Bibliographic - statistics & numerical data; Degenerative and inherited degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Leukodystrophies. Prion diseases; Disability Evaluation; Female; Humans; Huntington Disease - therapy; Huntington's disease; Internationality; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; movement disorders; Neurology; placebo; Placebo Effect; Placebos - therapeutic use; Retrospective Studies; Severity of Illness Index; Treatment Outcome; Nervous system diseases; Huntington disease; Huntington's disease; Placebo effect; Genetic disease; Cerebral disorder; Central nervous system disease; Placebo; Clinical trial; Degenerative disease; clinical trials; movement disorders; Extrapyramidal syndrome
• ISSN: 0885-3185; 1531-8257
• DOI: 10.1002/mds.24062

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 © 2011 Movement Disorder Society