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Comment
. 2018 Dec 28;16(1):243.
doi: 10.1186/s12916-018-1221-5.

The SMILES trial: do undisclosed recruitment practices explain the remarkably large effect?

Marc L Molendijk  1   2 , Eiko I Fried  3   4 , Willem Van der Does  3   5   6
Affiliations
Comment

The SMILES trial: do undisclosed recruitment practices explain the remarkably large effect?

Marc L Molendijk et al. BMC Med. .

Abstract

The SMILES trial showed substantial improvement of depressive symptoms following seven consultations on healthy dieting. The very large effect size on depression reduction seems remarkable and we suggest that selectively induced expectancy and a loss of blinding have contributed to the observed effect.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Comment in

  • The SMILES trial: an important first step.
    Jacka FN, O'Neil A, Itsiopoulos C, Opie R, Cotton S, Mohebbi M, Castle D, Dash S, Mihalopoulos C, Chatterton ML, Brazionis L, Dean OM, Hodge A, Berk M. Jacka FN, et al. BMC Med. 2018 Dec 28;16(1):237. doi: 10.1186/s12916-018-1228-y. BMC Med. 2018. PMID: 30591059 Free PMC article.

Comment on

References

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