Kate Faasse

The nocebo effect: patient expectations and medication side effects

Expectation of treatment side effects is consistently linked with those symptoms being realised. Patient expectations, including those generated by the informed consent process, can have a large influence on the side effects that patients feel after starting a new medical treatment. Such symptoms may be the result of the nocebo effect, whereby the expectation of side effects leads to them being experienced. Side effects may also be due to the misattribution of pre-existing or unrelated symptoms to the new medication. Medical professionals’ own negative beliefs about a treatment, especially generic drugs, may further enhance patients’ expectations of adverse effects. The news media may also influence expectations, particularly when media attention is directed towards a health or medication scare. This field of research has ethical and clinical implications for both medical professionals and the news media with respect to the level and type of information about treatment side effects that is provided to patients or members of the public.

Public Anxiety and Information Seeking Following the H1N1 Outbreak: Blogs, Newspaper Articles, and Wikipedia Visits

Web-based methodologies may provide a new and unique insight into public response to an infectious disease outbreak. This naturalistic study investigates the effectiveness of new web-based methodologies in assessing anxiety and information seeking in response to the 2009 H1N1 outbreak by examining language use in weblogs (“blogs”), newspaper articles, and web-based information seeking. Language use in blogs and newspaper articles was assessed using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count, and information seeking was examined using the number of daily visits to H1N1-relevant Wikipedia articles. The results show that blogs mentioning “swine flu” used significantly higher levels of anxiety, health, and death words and lower levels of positive emotion words than control blogs. Change in language use on blogs was strongly related to change in language use in newspaper coverage for the same day. Both the measure of anxiety in blogs mentioning ”swine flu” and the number of Wikipedia visits followed similar trajectories, peaking shortly after the announcement of H1N1 and then declining rapidly. Anxiety measured in blogs preceded information seeking on Wikipedia. These results show that the public reaction to H1N1 was rapid and short-lived. This research suggests that analysis of web behavior can provide a source of naturalistic data on the level and changing pattern of public anxiety and information seeking following the outbreak of a public health emergency.

How common are symptoms? Evidence from a New Zealand national telephone survey

Objective To assess the frequency of symptoms in a general population sample over the previous week and the associations between symptom reporting and demographic factors, medical visits and medication use. Design A representative general population sample (n=1000) was recruited using random digit dialling. Participants were asked whether they had experienced any of a list of 46 symptoms in the previous 7 days and if so, whether the symptom was mild, moderate or severe. Demographic data and information on medical visits and medication use were also collected. Results Symptom reporting was very common. The median number of symptoms reported by participants in the previous week was 5 with only 10.6% of participants reporting no symptoms. The five most common symptoms in the previous 7 days were: back pain (38%), fatigue (36%), headache (35%), runny or stuffy nose (34%) and joint pain (34%). The five symptoms rated highest in terms of severity were sexual difficulties, vomiting, tremor, suicidal thoughts and sleep problems. Symptom reporting was significantly positively associated with medical visits in the previous year and current medication taking. Women reported a significantly greater number of symptoms. We found no significant association between age or household size and symptom reporting. Conclusions This population-based study found that symptoms are more commonly experienced in the general population than previously estimated and are strongly associated with healthcare visits. Appreciation of the high prevalence of symptoms may help normalise the experience of symptom reports among the general population.

Unhelpful information about adverse drug reactions

Kirin Tan and colleagues find that information about adverse drug reactions for commonly prescribed drugs is excessive, inconsistent, often poorly presented, and contaminated by symptoms commonly experienced in daily life. They suggest how we could do better

Impact of television coverage on the number and type of symptoms reported during a health scare: a retrospective pre-post observational study

Objectives This study investigated the impact of television news coverage on total adverse event reporting rates 1 month before and after the bulletins during a medication health scare. We further investigated whether individual side effects mentioned in each bulletin were reflected in the adverse event reports following the coverage. Design A retrospective pre–post observational study. Setting New Zealand Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring. Participants Adverse events reported from May to December 2008 relating to Eltroxin formulation change. Primary and secondary outcome measures Primary outcome measure was the total rate of adverse event reporting per day. Secondary outcome measure was the rate of reporting of seven individual symptoms mentioned in the television coverage. Results After story 1, a significant increase in total reporting rates was evident (MdnPre=0, MdnPost=13.5, U=2, p<0.001, r=−0.86) with larger effect sizes for increases in television-mentioned symptoms. Story 2 also showed a significant increase in total adverse event reporting (MdnPre=6, MdnPost=18.5, U=86.5, p=0.002, r=−0.49) driven by significant increases only in television-reported symptoms. Story 3 did not result in a significant increase in total reporting (MdnPre=12; MdnPost=15.5, U=171, p=0.432, r=−0.12), and showed a significant increase in reporting rates for only one of the two television-reported symptoms. Conclusions The findings suggest that television news coverage can impact on the overall rate of adverse event reporting during a health scare, in part via increased reporting of media-mentioned side effects. The effects of television media coverage on adverse event reporting appear strongest for earlier reports.

Thyroxine: anatomy of a health scare

A recent change in the formulation of thyroxine replacement therapy caused a dramatic increase in adverse reaction reports in New Zealand—a story widely reported in the media. Kate Faasse, Tim Cundy, and Keith Petrie dissect the health scare

Perceptions of generic medication in the general population, doctors and pharmacists: a systematic review

Objective To investigate negative perceptions about generic medicines and evaluate the proportions of lay people, doctors and pharmacists who hold these perceptions. Design A systematic review of observational studies. Data sources MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycInfo and Scopus. Eligibility criteria Quantitative data from cross-sectional and prospective studies published in English after 1980, using self-report measures to evaluate perceptions about generic medicines, presented as percentages of the total sample assessed. Results After screening 2737 articles, 52 articles were included in the final analysis. A high proportion of doctors, pharmacists and lay people had negative perceptions of generics. Lay people were significantly more likely to view generics as less effective than branded medication (35.6%, 95% CI 34.8% to 36.4%) compared to doctors (28.7%, 27.5% to 29.9%) and pharmacists (23.6%, 21.2% to 26.2%), p<0.0001. Pharmacists (33.4%, 31.0% to 35.9%) were significantly more likely to believe generics were of inferior quality compared to branded medication than were doctors (28.0%, 26.3% to 29.9%), p=0.0006, and lay people (25.1%, 24.2% to 26.0%), p<0.0001. Doctors believed generics caused more side effects than branded medication (24.4%, 22.2% to 26.9%), compared to pharmacists (17.6%, 15.3% to 20.1%) and lay people (18.8%, 17.8% to 19.8%), p<0.0001. Doctors (28.5%, 26.9% to 30.2%) and pharmacists (25.4%, 21.4% to 29.9%) had significantly more safety concerns about generics than did lay people (18.0%, 17.0% to 19.0%), p≤0.0002. A greater proportion of lay people felt negatively about generic substitution (34.0%, 33.2% to 34.9%), compared to doctors (24.1%, 22.0% to 26.4%) and pharmacists (11.0%, 9.6% to 12.7%), p<0.0001. Rates of negative perceptions of generics do not appear to have changed substantially over time in the general population or among physician groups, p≥0.431, but such negative beliefs show a decreasing trend in pharmacists over the study period, p=0.034. Conclusions A significant proportion of doctors, pharmacists and lay people hold negative perceptions of generic medicines. It is likely these attitudes present barriers to the wider use of generics.

Seeing Is Believing: Impact of Social Modeling on Placebo and Nocebo Responding

OBJECTIVE This study investigated the impact of the social modeling of side effects following placebo medication ingestion on the nocebo and placebo effect. It also investigated whether medication branding (brand or generic labeling) moderated social modeling effects. METHOD Eighty-two university students took part in the study which was purportedly investigating the impact of fast-acting beta-blocker medications (actually placebos) on preexamination anxiety. After taking the medication, participants were randomized to either witness a female confederate report experiencing side effects or no side effects after taking the same medication. Differences in symptom reporting, blood pressure, heart rate, and anxiety were assessed between the social modeling of side effects and no modeling groups. RESULTS Seeing a female confederate report side effects reduced the placebo effect in systolic (p = .009) and diastolic blood pressure (p = .033). Seeing a female confederate report side effects also increased both total reported symptoms (mean [SE] 7.35 [.54] vs. 5.16 [0.53] p = .005) and symptoms attributed to the medication (5.27 [0.60] vs. 3.04 [0.59] p = .01), although the effect on symptoms was only seen in female participants. Females who saw the confederate report side effects reported approximately twice the number of symptoms as those in the no modeling group. Social modeling did not affect heart rate or anxiety. Medication branding did not influence placebo or nocebo outcomes. CONCLUSIONS The social modeling of symptoms can substantially reduce or eliminate the placebo effect. Viewing a female confederate display symptoms after taking the same medication increases symptom reporting in females.

You Can’t Always Get What You Want: The Influence of Choice on Nocebo and Placebo Responding

ObjectiveChoice may be an important influence on the effectiveness and side effects of medical treatments.PurposeWe investigated the impact of having a choice of medication compared to no choice on both nocebo and placebo responding.MethodsSixty-one participants were randomly assigned to either choose between or be assigned to one of the two equivalent beta-blocker medications (actually placebos) for pre-examination anxiety.ResultsThere was a greater nocebo response in the no choice group and an increased placebo response in the choice group. Participants in the no choice group attributed significantly more side effects to the tablet than the choice group (p = 0.045), particularly at the 24-h follow-up (p = 0.002). The choice group showed a stronger placebo response in heart rate than the non-choice group.ConclusionNot being given a choice of medication increased the nocebo effect and reduced the placebo response to the treatment.

From Me to You: The Effect of Social Modeling on Treatment Outcomes

The social context in which people take medicines can strongly influence the drug response in both positive and negative ways. We first examine the role of social modeling in influencing treatment outcomes through modifying placebo and nocebo responses, and then explore possible mechanisms for these effects. Viewing another person show improvement after taking a drug can increase the placebo component of the medicine and thus the overall potency of the treatment. Likewise, seeing another person who has taken the same medicine report side effects can substantially increase adverse effects. Such effects can also occur on a wider scale following changes in medicine formulations or from vaccinations programs, when the media transmit adverse effects from these treatments to a wider audience. Females seem to be more susceptible than males to the social modeling of adverse effects of treatments. A greater awareness of the effects of social modeling has potential to improve the effectiveness of medical treatments, minimize side-effect burden, and also lead to more effective management of health scares.