Nocebo effect in refractory partial epilepsy during pre-surgical monitoring: Systematic review and meta-analysis of placebo-controlled clinical trials

Very limited epilepsy RCTs with pure placebo groups are available and all are in treatment resistant patients during pre-surgical monitoring. However, our study indicates a significant nocebo effect in trials for epilepsy treatment adversely affecting adherence and efficacy of current treatments in clinical practice, with additional implications for trial designing.