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Double-blind procedure: an assessment in a study of lithium prophylaxis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

F. Stallone ,
J. Mendlewicz  and
R. R. Fieve
F. Stallone*
Affiliation:
New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, U.S.A.
J. Mendlewicz
Affiliation:
New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, U.S.A.
R. R. Fieve
Affiliation:
New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, U.S.A.
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr. Frank Stallone, New York State Psychiatric Institute, 722 West 168th Street, New York, N.Y.10032, U.S.A.
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Synopsis

Fifty-seven patients with primary affective disorder who were in a double-blind outpatient study to evaluate the prophylaxis of lithium were questioned as to whether they believed they were receiving lithium or placebo. Research nurses who were ‘blind’ to the patients' medication and a close relative living with each patient were also questioned. Nearly all patients (96%) said they believed they were receiving lithium, ascribing this belief in 63% of the cases to a perceived improvement in condition. In only 14% of the cases on lithium was the presence of side-effects implicated in the patients' beliefs. One of the three nurses had a correct guess rate in excess of chance expectancy. All nurses tended to be more accurate in their guesses in the cases of patients who had been in prophylactic trials of over 15 months' duration than for patients with briefer periods in the study. Patients' relatives were, as a group, extremely accurate, their correct guess rate exceeding chance expectancy at the 0·001 level.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , February 1975 , pp. 78 - 82
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

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References

REFERENCES

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