https://scienceofplacebo.org/ Newly published peer-reviewed studies of placebo and nocebo effects and responses. Thu, 15 Oct 2026 14:18:39 +0000 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12998-026-00680-wdoi:10.1186/s12998-026-00680-wBorg F et al. (2026). Chiropr Man Therap. Tested immediate effects of spinal manipulation, exercise therapy, and open-label placebo on lifting biomechanics and pain in 50 people with chronic non-specific back pain in a crossover motion-lab RCT; found limited overall effects but some within-group biomechanical and pain changes. https://doi.org/10.1097/pr9.0000000000001405doi:10.1097/pr9.0000000000001405Sezer D et al. (2026). Pain Rep. Randomized trial tested two daily open-label placebo injections plus usual care versus usual care after dorsal lumbar interbody fusion and found no reduction in 48-hour morphine consumption. https://doi.org/10.1097/gme.0000000000002909doi:10.1097/gme.0000000000002909Wang S et al. (2026). Menopause. Performed a model-based meta-analysis of NK3-receptor antagonist trials for menopausal hot flashes, quantified drug dose-response and time-course, and found elevated placebo responses in these trials compared with other nonhormone studies. https://doi.org/10.1159/nim/adxag011doi:10.1159/nim/adxag011Köhler A et al. (2026). Neuroimmunomodulation. Randomized healthy volunteers received negative versus neutral verbal suggestions and adverse versus neutral treatment experiences; nocebo responders showed higher peripheral CCK during treatment, and women had higher β-endorphin across groups. https://doi.org/10.1159/nim/adxag010doi:10.1159/nim/adxag010Leisengang S et al. (2026). Neuroimmunomodulation. Used saccharin paired with ibuprofen in CFA-inflamed rats to produce conditioned analgesia, and conditioned animals showed elevated mechanical and thermal withdrawal thresholds versus non-conditioned controls. https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/f5gxndoi:10.17605/osf.io/f5gxnStephany Campanelli Esmaile (2026). OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints). Systematic review synthesized randomized human studies of neuroimaging and electrophysiological correlates of placebo effects and placebo responses, including 31 studies. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2026.07.1005doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2026.07.1005Manpreet K. Singh et al. (2026). Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Studied neuroimaging predictors of placebo response in depressed or anxious youth with family history of bipolar disorder; predictors were the analytic focus. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1730585doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1730585Tan W et al. (2026). Front Psychol. Found that exposure to social-media reports of COVID-19 vaccine side effects predicted greater self-reported side-effect burden after the first dose, with this association mediated by pre-vaccination expectations and moderated by worry and misinformation. https://doi.org/10.2196/100426doi:10.2196/100426Hosono T et al. (2026). J Med Internet Res. Meta-analyzed 30 RCTs and found a pooled PHQ-9 within-control improvement (Hedges' g=0.44) in digital placebo arms and identified primary psychiatric status and baseline severity as moderators. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1913608doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1913608Martin Coenen et al. (2026). Frontiers in Psychology. Conducted a feasibility study combining a standardized contextually-enhanced drug administration by senior physicians with continuous SmartPill® motility monitoring after abdominal surgery and found the protocol operationally feasible but no consistent physiological motility improvements. https://doi.org/10.24911/amem.15-2963doi:10.24911/amem.15-2963Khalaf A. Alnowaishiri et al. (2026). Annals of Middle Eastern Medicine. Meta-analysis of seven studies compared sham and real orthopedic surgeries and found real surgery superior for pain but no significant differences for function or quality of life; adverse events trended higher with real surgery. https://doi.org/10.1093/abm/kaag036doi:10.1093/abm/kaag036Al-Awan Z et al. (2026). Ann Behav Med. Randomized single-blind sham-vagus stimulation with hunger-increasing, hunger-decreasing, or neutral verbal suggestions found that suggestions altered self-reported hunger and craving but not food desirability or choices. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2026.105167doi:10.1016/j.brat.2026.105167Rooney T et al. (2026). Behav Res Ther. Found that actively selecting more negative anecdotes about a medication increased expectancies and worry about side effects and reduced willingness to try the treatment. https://doi.org/10.1097/pr9.0000000000001499doi:10.1097/pr9.0000000000001499Saluja S et al. (2026). Pain Rep. Pooled data from 115 studies of facial pain showed placebo/sham arms produced an average ~29.7% pain reduction, with substantial between-study variability and diagnosis-related differences. https://doi.org/10.13005/bpj/3531doi:10.13005/bpj/3531Salma Amr et al. (2026). Biomedical & Pharmacology Journal. Administered a saline spray presented as an analgesic to 161 young adults and found significant increases in pressure pain threshold and tolerance, with larger effects on tolerance and persistent gender differences. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-pharmtox-060225-124705doi:10.1146/annurev-pharmtox-060225-124705Chen C & Scherrer G (2026). Annu Rev Pharmacol Toxicol. Reviews recent human and preclinical evidence on psychological, neural, and molecular mechanisms of placebo analgesia and discusses strategies to ethically harness these mechanisms in clinical pain management. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2026.101376doi:10.1016/j.bbih.2026.101376Senta Mühlhaus et al. (2026). Brain Behavior & Immunity - Health. Found that higher trait anxiety predicted more self-reported side effects at week 4 during secukinumab therapy, and this association was mediated by baseline side-effect expectations; effects diminished by week 16. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm15197637doi:10.3390/jcm15197637Esther Raskopf et al. (2026). Journal of Clinical Medicine. Conducted a post hoc cross-study comparison and found that placebo-injection cohorts had lower symptom and medication scores than an injection-free cohort in birch pollen-allergic participants. https://doi.org/10.1159/pps/aemag014doi:10.1159/pps/aemag014Winkler E et al. (2026). Psychother Psychosom. Randomized trial found that open-label placebo combined with social observational learning produced clinically meaningful pain reductions in chronic low back pain comparable to active medication, and that expected pain relief predicted outcomes. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joca.2026.09.012doi:10.1016/j.joca.2026.09.012Wen Z et al. (2026). Osteoarthritis Cartilage. Pooled 34 RCTs (3,763 participants) and quantified overall treatment and contextual (placebo) effects for pharmacological interventions in hand osteoarthritis, finding that much of topical NSAID benefit was attributable to contextual effects. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci16091000doi:10.3390/brainsci16091000Civile C (2026). Brain Sci. Tested whether participating in a tDCS study (sham) altered face-recognition performance versus a no-tDCS control and found no evidence that expectancy changed performance; anodal tDCS reduced the face inversion effect. https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.70915doi:10.1111/apt.70915Silveira IB et al. (2026). Aliment Pharmacol Ther. Found that placebo groups in cholestatic-pruritus trials showed a moderate, clinically variable reduction in itch scores (pooled SMC -0.49) and that instrument choice affected detection of change. https://doi.org/10.1080/15438627.2026.2736778doi:10.1080/15438627.2026.2736778Mendonça MEF et al. (2026). Res Sports Med. Randomized double-blind crossover in 12 male amateur cyclists tested maltodextrin, fructose, placebo mouth rinses and no-rinse control; rinsing did not change 15-min time-trial power output, and no placebo effect was observed. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.09.16.26359287doi:10.64898/2026.09.16.26359287J. Michael Menke et al. (2026). medRxiv. Pooled Bayesian analysis of 120 trials modeled natural history and control conditions, found control arms exceeded natural history in chronic low back pain (consistent with substantial placebo response) while sham-corrected effects were near zero in acute LBP.