The impact of describing clinical trial treatments as new or standard

Concern has been expressed over a possible widespread belief amongst patients in trials, that a new treatment is better than the standard, despite the lack of evidence of such superiority. A sample of the general public (N = 130) read a leaflet describing a hypothetical trial comparing two similar treatments for either arthritis or back-pain. Half read that both treatments were standard and generally available; half that one was new and...