To the Editor: In their article on controlled trials, Forder et al1 described the trial by Karlowski et al on vitamin C and the common cold2 as an example of how patients’ or investigators’ preconceptions about the value of the treatment may affect a trial’s results. However, their presentation of this trial is misleading in two respects.
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- Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, POB 41, Helsinki, FIN-00014, Finland.
Correspondence: harri.hemila@helsinki.fi
- 1. Forder PM, Gebski VJ, Keech AC. Allocation concealment and blinding: when ignorance is bliss. Med J Aust 2005; 182: 87-89. <MJA full text>
- 2. Karlowski TR, Chalmers TC, Frenkel LD, et al. Ascorbic acid for the common cold: a prophylactic and therapeutic trial. JAMA 1975; 231: 1038-1042.
- 3. Hemilä H. Vitamin C, the placebo effect, and the common cold: a case study of how preconceptions influence the analysis of results. J Clin Epidemiol 1996; 49: 1079-1084; discussion in 1085-1087.
- 4. Beecher HK. The powerful placebo. JAMA 1955; 159: 1602-1606.
- 5. Hrobjartsson A, Gøtzsche PC. Is the placebo powerless? An analysis of clinical trials comparing placebo with no treatment. N Engl J Med 2001; 344: 1594-1602; discussion in 2001; 345: 1276-1279.
- 6. Douglas RM, Hemilä H, D’Souza R, et al. Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold (Cochrane Review). In: The Cochrane Library, Issue 4, 2004. Abstract available at: http://www.cochrane.org/cochrane/revabstr/AB000980.htm (accessed Apr 2005).
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