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Randomised controlled trials are needed

  1. Louise Howard
  1. Senior registrar in psychiatry Maudsley Hospital, London SE5 8AZ

    EDITOR,—It is still unclear from the literature whether investigative tests reassure patients with anxieties about the presence of serious disease.1 2 Ray Fitzpatrick discusses some of the possible reasons for this, including psychiatric morbidity, poor communication, and the “wild card effects” mentioned in the study by I G McDonald and colleagues.3

    Other psychological processes in patients are also likely to influence outcome: …

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