Results of a survey published in the October 2008 issue of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) show that 46-58% of rheumatologists and internists who responded prescribe placebos (depending on how the question was worded). The most common types being vitamins and over the counter analgesics (painkillers).

Placebos in the study were defined as "a treatment whose benefits derive from positive patient expectations and not from the physiological mechanism of the treatment itself." Dictionary.com defines "placebo" as "a substance having no pharmacological effect but given merely to satisfy a patient who supposes it to be a medicine." For more information on placebos, the Wikipedia entry can be found by clicking here.

The authors of the study also state that the physicians rarely explicitly describe the medication as a placebo (5%).

They conclude that "Prescribing placebo treatments seems to be common and is viewed as ethically permissible among the surveyed US internists and rheumatologists…Physicians might not be fully transparent with their patients about the use of placebos and might have mixed motivations for recommending such treatments."

To read the abstract at BMJ.com, click here.

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