Background & Aims

Numerous emerging studies suggest that patient expectation can influence the experience of adverse events (1), and may increase the risk of adverse event occurrence across a multitude of conditions and treatments (2-5), including pain (6). This phenomenon is known as the nocebo effect and may play an important role in the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines (7). The aim of this project was to investigate the expectations of pain and adverse events in relation to the COVID-19 vaccines.

Methods

Participants (N = 1,176) were recruited at vaccination sites before the first and second vaccination in the summer of 2021. Each participant completed a short questionnaire assessing expectations of pain and adverse events related to the vaccines, measured by a 5-point Likert scale (e.g. “I expect to experience adverse events from the vaccine”, “I expect to experience muscle pain”, “I expect to experience headache”, where 1 = ‘strongly disagree’, and 5 = ‘strongly agree’).

Results

Results will be presented at the World Congress on Pain in Amsterdam, Netherlands, August 2024.

Conclusions

This project will provide information about expectations of pain and adverse events in relation to the COVID-19 vaccines, which may be relevant for the development of psychological interventions to reduce the experience of pain and adverse events in future vaccination programme.

References

1.Faasse K, Petrie KJ. The nocebo effect: patient expectations and medication side effects. Postgrad Med J. 2013;89(1055):540-546.
2.Howick J, Webster R, Kirby N, Hood K. Rapid overview of systematic reviews of nocebo effects reported by patients taking placebos in clinical trials. Trials. 2018;19(1):674.
3.Webster RK, Rubin GJ. Influencing side-effects to medicinal treatments: A systematic review of brief psychological interventions. Frontiers in Psychiatry. 2019;10(FEB).
4.Rief W, Nestoriuc Y, von Lilienfeld-Toal A, Dogan I, Schreiber F, Hofmann SG, Barsky AJ, Avorn J. Differences in Adverse Effect Reporting in Placebo Groups in SSRI and Tricyclic Antidepressant Trials: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Drug safety. 2009;32(11):1041-1056.
5.Webster RK, Weinman J, Rubin GJ. A Systematic Review of Factors That Contribute to Nocebo Effects. Health psychology. 2016;35(12):1334-1355.
6.Zhang Y, Xu Y, Liu S, Liang J, Fan S, Ding M, Wang J, Xiao Z. The Nocebo Response in Pharmacologic Treatments of Primary Headache: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. J Clin Pharmacol. 2022;62(10):1257-1272.
7.Amanzio M, Cipriani GE, Bartoli AM. How do nocebo effects in placebo groups of randomized controlled trials provide a possible explicative framework for the COVID-19 pandemic? Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology. 2021;14(4):439-444.

Presenting Author

Anne-Sofie Balsgaard Brandt

Poster Authors

Anne-Sofie Balsgaard Brandt

BSc

Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Aarhus University

Lead Author

Sigrid Juhl Lunde

MSc

Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark

Lead Author

Caroline Grønkjær Madsen

BSc

Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark

Lead Author

Lene Vase and PhD

Department of Psychology, Aarhus University, DK

Lead Author

Mette Sieg

MSc

Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark

Lead Author

Topics

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