Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Multicenter Study
. 2005 Nov 3:5:115.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-5-115.

Homeopathic medical practice: long-term results of a cohort study with 3981 patients

Claudia M Witt  1 , Rainer Lüdtke, Roland Baur, Stefan N Willich
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Homeopathic medical practice: long-term results of a cohort study with 3981 patients

Claudia M Witt et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: On the range of diagnoses, course of treatment, and long-term outcome in patients who chose to receive homeopathic medical treatment very little is known. We investigated homeopathic practice in an industrialized country under everyday conditions.

Methods: In a prospective, multicentre cohort study with 103 primary care practices with additional specialisation in homeopathy in Germany and Switzerland, data from all patients (age > 1 year) consulting the physician for the first time were observed. The main outcome measures were: Patient and physician assessments (numeric rating scales from 0 to 10) and quality of life at baseline, and after 3, 12, and 24 months.

Results: A total of 3,981 patients were studied including 2,851 adults (29% men, mean age 42.5 +/- 13.1 years; 71% women, 39.9 +/- 12.4 years) and 1,130 children (52% boys, 6.5 +/- 3.9 years; 48% girls, 7.0 +/- 4.3 years). Ninety-seven percent of all diagnoses were chronic with an average duration of 8.8 +/- 8 years. The most frequent diagnoses were allergic rhinitis in men, headache in women, and atopic dermatitis in children. Disease severity decreased significantly (p < 0.001) between baseline and 24 months (adults from 6.2 +/- 1.7 to 3.0 +/- 2.2; children from 6.1 +/- 1.8 to 2.2 +/- 1.9). Physicians' assessments yielded similar results. For adults and young children, major improvements were observed for quality of life, whereas no changes were seen in adolescents. Younger age and more severe disease at baseline were factors predictive of better therapeutic success.

Conclusion: Disease severity and quality of life demonstrated marked and sustained improvements following homeopathic treatment period. Our findings indicate that homeopathic medical therapy may play a beneficial role in the long-term care of patients with chronic diseases.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Patient selection.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Most common medical complaints as reported by the homeopathy physicians (in % of documented complaints).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Jonas W, Jacobs J. Healing With Homeopathy. New York, Warner Books; 1996.
    1. Linde K, Clausius N, Ramirez G, Melchart D, Eitel F, Hedges LV, Jonas WB. Are the clinical effects of homeopathy placebo effects? A meta-analysis of placebo-controlled trials. Lancet. 1997;350:834–843. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(97)02293-9. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Eisenberg DM, Davis RB, Ettner SL, Appel S, Wilkey S, Van Rompay M, Kessler RC. Trends in alternative medicine use in the United States, 1990-1997: results of a follow-up national survey. JAMA. 1998;280:1569–1575. doi: 10.1001/jama.280.18.1569. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Thomas KJ, Nicholl JP, Coleman P. Use and expenditure on complementary medicine in England: a population based survey. Complement Ther Med. 2001;9:2–11. doi: 10.1054/ctim.2000.0407. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Härtel U, Volger E. Inanspruchnahme und Akzeptanz von klassischen Naturheilverfahren und alternativen Heilmethoden in Deutschland. Ergebnisse einer repräsentativen Bevölkerungsstudie. Das Gesundheitswesen. 2003;65:A35. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms