Participants may never know which arm of the trial they were in

Less than half of investigators inform participants about their treatment allocation at the end of a trial. Di Blasi and colleagues (p 1329) surveyed more than 200 investigators of placebo controlled clinical trials published in five leading medical journals in 2000 or registered in the national research register. Overall, 40% of investigators had never considered informing participants. Nearly a quarter of investigators were worried that disclosure would bias results at follow up of the study. These findings challenge a recent report from the Department of Health stating that once research findings are established, principal investigators must feed back findings to participants or their representatives. More effective and sensitive ways of communicating treatment allocation to participants are needed, as well as information on the effects on placebo responders.

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Relevant Article

Informing participants of allocation to placebo at trial closure: postal survey

Zelda Di Blasi, Ted J Kaptchuk, John Weinman, and Jos Kleijnen
BMJ 2002 325: 1329. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]