Question

Many clinical trials over the years have found that what percentage of patients respond to a placebo as if it were the intervention?

Answer 1

it is true that many clinical trials over the years have found that percentage of patients respond to a placebo as if it were the intervention.Bioequivalence test each individuals difference in response to treatment and placebo is calculated.Since every subject recieves both interventions ,design is effective in balancing group differences.Controls for unknown confounders cannot be used when there are permanent carryover effects from treatment .Length of wash-out period is crucial ,effects of frst intervention should not carryover to second intervention.Study disease should continue long enough to allow evaluation of both treatment arms.Study disease should not vary in severity over time.In explanatory evidence there exists a plausible model to explain the interventions effects.Powerful ,appears inside black box with specific treatment effect.Model can be flawed because doesnt approximately truly whats going in patient,may be close to truth or far from truth.Continuum of plausibility,increases as scientific reason increases.it includes supernatural evidence,Quasi-scientific,Theoretical and Established.Biomedicine has been working to move these scientific models towards more plausible end.Things that seem very reasonable are very often wrong,good scientists prove consensus wrong.