Efecto placebo en la enfermedad inflamatoria intestinal

Información del artículo

Resumen

Desde tiempo inmemorial se han empleado placebos para el tratamiento de pacientes con muy distintas enfermedades. Recientemente, se ha renovado el interés en dichas sustancias, dado que la utilización del ensayo clínico controlado con placebo se ha convertido en la herramienta más útil para comprobar la eficacia de un fármaco en pacientes con una enfermedad determinada. En el caso de la enfermedad inflamatoria intestinal (EII), tanto en la enfermedad de Crohn como en la colitis ulcerosa, se ha observado cómo los pacientes del brazo placebo de los ensayos clínicos obtienen unos resultados muy significativos, superando incluso a los que se consiguen con agentes farmacológicos en otros estudios. Los pacientes con EII tienen algunas características que les hacen especialmente proclives a la aparición del efecto placebo: son enfermedades crónicas que cursan en brotes, y el dolor es uno de los síntomas cardinales. En el futuro será fundamental cuantificar adecuadamente el efecto placebo en los diferentes escenarios clínicos de la EII, para poder diseñar ensayos clínicos que puedan demostrar la verdadera eficacia de los tratamientos investigados.

Palabras clave:

Enfermedad inflamatoria intestinal

Placebo

Colitis ulcerosa

Enfermedad de Crohn

Abstract

Since time immemorial, placebos have been used in the treatment of patients with very different diseases. Interest in these substances has recently been renewed, since the use of placebo-controlled clinical trials has become the most useful tool to demonstrate the efficacy of a particular drug in patients with specific diseases. In inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), both in Crohn's disease and in ulcerative colitis, highly significant results have been obtained in patients in the placebo arm of clinical trials, surpassing even those achieved with drugs in other studies. Patients with IBD show certain characteristics that make them especially susceptible to the placebo effect: IBD are chronic diseases occurring in flares and pain is one of the main symptoms. In future, the placebo effect should be adequately quantified in the distinct clinical scenarios of IBD in order to design clinical trials that could demonstrate the true efficacy of the treatments investigated.

Key words:

Inflammatory bowel disease

Placebo

Ulcerative colitis

Crohn's disease

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