抄録
Internet surveys were performed in 2003 and 2013 to investigate the knowledge of the general public on clinical trials and placebo and their attitudes of participation in clinical trials. In both surveys, the term ‘clinical trial’ was recognized by many participants, and clinical trial advertisement was acknowledged by nearly one-half of the survey participants in 2003. Approximately 30 to 40% of the survey participants responded that they wished to participate in clinical trials for relatively mild diseases such as common cold or gastric ulcer, whereas 50 to 60% would participate in the case of gastric cancer. When the possibility to receive placebo was 50%, the rate of ‘yes’ response decreased by 10 to 20%. The proportions of responders who knew the term ‘placebo’ were 14% (females) and 23% (males) in 2003, and increased to 27% (females) and 31% (males) in 2013, although the rates were still less than one-third. The term ‘An-i-zai (安慰剤)’ was the most preferred Japanese translation for ‘placebo’ in both surveys. The environment for clinical trials has been improved by many measures and policies implemented during the decade between these surveys. However, educational activities on clinical trials targeting the general public remain insufficient. In order to familiarize and establish clinical trials in Japan, more proactive measures should be taken to provide information on clinical trial and placebo, and educate the general public to obtain their cooperation in participating as subjects. In that regard, it is important to enrich the sources of information such as the database of people's experience in clinical trials hosted by DIPEx-Japan. As for the Japanese translation of ‘placebo’, it is desirable to use ‘An-i-zai (安慰剤)’, ‘Ki-yaku (喜薬)’ or ‘Gi-yaku (擬薬)’ rather than ‘Gi-yaku (偽薬)’ which is widely used inappropriately.
