Review: placebo is better than no treatment for subjective continuous outcomes and for treatment of pain

Placebo v no treatment for various conditions*

Outcomes at the end of treatment	Pooled standardised mean difference (95% CI)†
*Abbreviations defined in glossary.
†Negative value indicates a beneficial effect of placebo.
Overall continuous outcomes	−0.28 (−0.38 to −0.19)
Subjective continuous outcomes	−0.36 (−0.47 to −0.25)
Pain (continuous outcomes only)	−0.27 (−0.40 to −0.15)