Tarpey Thaddeus, Petkova Eva
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio,
JP J Biostat. 2010 Jun 1;4(2):161-179.
Non-specific treatment response, also known as placebo response, is ubiquitous in the treatment of mental illness, particularly in treating depression. The study of placebo effect is complicated because the factors that constitute non-specific treatment effects are latent and not directly observed. A flexible infinite mixture model is introduced to model these nonspecific treatment effects. The infinite mixture model stipulates that the non-specific treatment effects are continuous and this is contrasted with a finite mixture model that is based on the assumption that the non-specific treatment effects are discrete. Data from a depression clinical trial is used to illustrate the model and to study the evolution of the placebo effect over the course of treatment.
非特异性治疗反应，也称为安慰剂反应，在精神疾病治疗中普遍存在，尤其是在治疗抑郁症方面。安慰剂效应的研究很复杂，因为构成非特异性治疗效果的因素是潜在的，无法直接观察到。引入了一个灵活的无限混合模型来对这些非特异性治疗效果进行建模。无限混合模型规定非特异性治疗效果是连续的，这与基于非特异性治疗效果是离散的假设的有限混合模型形成对比。使用来自抑郁症临床试验的数据来说明该模型，并研究安慰剂效应在治疗过程中的演变。
