Clinical trial NCT00882934: The Management of Erectile Dysfunction With Placebo Only
Official title: A Single-Blind, Controlled, Randomized, Parallel-Group Study of the Efficacy of Patients' Awareness on the Composition of the Experimental Drug in the Treatment of Erectile Dysfunction.
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Impotence
Erectile Dysfunction
Keywords: Placebo
Placebo Effect
Sexual Dysfunction
Erectile Dysfunction
Clinical Trial
Lead sponsor: Rio de Janeiro State University
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2009-04-17
Enrollment: 123
Sex: MALE
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: Placebo-controlled randomized clinical trials (RCT) are the gold standard to provide applicable evidence for clinical practice. A vast number of RCTs for treatment of several disorders has shown a mean placebo effect of 30%. Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a high prevalent disease and its first-line therapy is oral phosphodiesterase type-5 inhibitor (iPDE5) (i.e., sildenafil, vardenafil and tadalafil). Although the placebo effect in iPDE5 RCT occurred at a rate as high as 50%, in the last decade, with the revolutionary discovery of effective pharmacotherapy for ED, oral iPDE5 has become one of the most common prescribed drugs for men. The objective of this study is to evaluate the influence of patients' awareness on the composition of the therapeutic drug in the outcomes of the oral treatment for ED.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* 18 years of age or older
* Complaint of ED for at least 6 months prior the start of the study, according to medical history and to the questionnaires IIEF, SEAR and QEQ.
* A stable heterosexual relationship.
* To be in good health prior the participation in the study, with no important clinical abnormalities, determined by: clinical history, physical examination, blood chemistry and hematology, urinalysis (If the standard values of the laboratory for these tests are not evidenced, subjects can be included if the researcher consider the changes as not clinically significant).

Exclusion Criteria:

* History of significant cardiovascular, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, hematological, neurological (including epilepsy), locomotor, immunologic, ophthalmic, metabolic, endocrine, thromboembolic, rheumatologic, cancer, kidney or liver disease.
* Diagnosis of psychiatric conditions, e.g. depression, anxiety, dysthymia, mania, panic, agoraphobia, social phobia, suicidal ideation, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress, psychotic disorders, schizophrenia, alcoholism, dependence on psycho-active substances.
* History of HIV, hepatitis B or hepatitis C.
* Hyperprolactinemia or untreated hypothyroidism.
* Any condition, which, in the opinion of the investigator, may interfere with the participation of the subject in the study (e.g. difficulty to meet the requirements of the study, attend the consultations, answer the questionnaires).
* Report of significant clinical problems by the subject's partner, such as decreased sexual interest, pain during relations or other forms of sexual dysfunction that interfere in the relationship with the sexual partner.
* Patient or partner willing to undergo a surgical procedure during the study period, which may interfere in the results.
* Peyronie's disease, which may lead to impossibility to penetrate or cause pain during the sexual intercourse.
* Use of nitrates.
* Illiterate patient.

Primary outcomes:
measure: IIEF erectile function domain score
timeFrame: 4 AND 8 Weeks
measure: Quality of Erection Questionnaire (QEQ)
timeFrame: 4 and 8 weeks
Secondary outcomes:
measure: IIEF orgasmic function, sexual desire, intercourse satisfaction and overall satisfaction domain scores
timeFrame: 4 and 8 weeks
measure: SEAR questionnaire
timeFrame: 4 and 8 weeks
measure: EDITS questionnaire
timeFrame: 4 and 8 weeks
measure: GEAQ questionnaire
timeFrame: 4 and 8 weeks
Other outcomes:
Locations:
Study officials:
affiliation: Laboratory for Translational Research in Urology
name: Eloisio Alexsandro da Silva, MD, PhD
role: STUDY_CHAIR
References: