Survey finds most NZ doctors prescribe placebos

[Media release]

Survey finds most New Zealand doctors prescribe placebos

3rd July 2009 – 3/4 of NZ doctors who completed a recent survey have prescribed placebos to their patients and ½ have done so in the previous year. Placebos were defined in the survey, which is published in the latest edition of the New Zealand Medical Journal, as treatments used in situations where there has been no demonstrated clinical efficacy.

Researchers Shaun Holt and Andrew Gilbey questioned over 150 doctors, mostly GPs, in the first survey in NZ on this issue in over 25 years. Comparison with the 1982 survey suggested that use of placebos has if anything increased over time, with 1 in 7 doctors having prescribed placebos more than 10 times in the last year.

“These findings are similar to those found in a recent survey of USA doctors where around half prescribed placebo treatments on a regular basis”, said Dr. Holt. “Given that placebos clearly do have effects, we consider their use to be consistent with medical ethics as long as the doctor considers them to be in the best interests of the patient.”

However, Holt and Gilbey were concerned that ‘antibiotics for viral or other non-bacterial diagnoses’ was the most commonly prescribed form of placebo, as this increases the risk of antibiotic resistance in the community and can cause side effects for the individual.

The most common information given to patients about the placebo was that ‘it is a substance that may help and will not hurt’ and the most common reasons for administering or prescribing placebo were ‘after unjustified demands for medication’, ‘for non-specific complaints’, and ‘after all clinically indicated treatment possibilities were exhausted’.

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