Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
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Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2003; 8: 125
To describe the range of diagnoses seen in homoeopathic practices, and to evaluate long-term changes in quality of life (QoL) among patients receiving homoeopathic treatment.
A prospective cohort study of consecutively recruited adults presenting for the first time at one of 102 primary homoeopathic care centers in Germany and Switzerland. Ther QoL measurements (SF-36) were made at baseline, 3, 12, and 24 months. Statistical analysis of data used general linear repeated measurement models.
Among a total of 2851 patients (29.3% male, 42.5 ± 10.0 years; 70.7% female, 39.9 ± 12.4 years), 99% suffered from a chronic illness with a median disease duration of 10.3 ± 9.8 years. At baseline, QoL was lower on the Mental Component Scale (MCS) than on the Physical Component Scale (PCS) (MCS –1.51 and PCS –0.37 standard deviations below the mean of the general population). Across different diagnoses, improvements on the PCS were estimated to be 0.25 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.19–0.31] standard deviations at 3 months, 0.36 (95% CI 0.30–0.42) and 0.40 (95% CI 0.34–0.47) at 24 months. The MCS changes were greater: 0.44 (95% CI 0.38–0.50) standard deviations at 3 months, 0.50 (95% CI 0.44–0.56) at 12 months and 0.56 (95% CI 0.50–0.62) at 24 months.
Almost all homoeopathically treated patients had been suffering from a chronic illness and were evidently searching for complementary treatment, but not an alternative to conventional medical care. Their QoL substantially improved primarily within the first few months of treatment and remained at this higher level. The results cannot be attributed to regression to the mean or to selective dropouts.
