A Homeopathic Combination Preparation in the Treatment of Feverish Upper Respiratory Tract Infections: An International Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Background: Upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) are very common and associated with considerable healthcare costs. We evaluated the clinical benefit of a homeopathic add-on therapy. Patients and Methods: In this randomized controlled multinational clinical trial, patients (age range 1-65 years) with feverish URTI received either on-demand symptomatic standard treatment (ST group: paracetamol, ambroxol, and/or oxymetazoline), or homeopathic medication (IFC group: Influcid®) for 7 days plus the same on-demand standard treatment. URTI symptoms were assessed using the Wisconsin Upper Respiratory Symptom Survey-21. Response at day 4, defined as absence of fever and absence or very mild degree of URTI symptoms, was the primary outcome measure. Results: 523 patients (265 IFC group, 258 ST group) were randomized in 12 Ukrainian and 10 German centers. The responder rate on day 4 was 15.4% in the IFC group and 6.7% in the ST group (Δ_IFC-ST = 8.7%, 95% confidence interval 2.9-14.5%). The IFC group used less symptomatic medication, and symptoms were alleviated 1-2 days earlier. 3 and 8 adverse events (AEs) in the IFC and ST group, respectively, were assessed as possibly treatment-related; 2 out of the 3 AEs in the IFC group were possibly related to symptomatic therapy, 1 (vomiting) to IFC treatment. Conclusion: The homeopathic treatment shortened URTI duration, reduced the use of symptomatic medication, and was well tolerated.

Homeopathy in the Age of Antimicrobial Resistance: Is It a Viable Treatment for Upper Respiratory Tract Infections?

“…One of the RCTs in these tables is featured twice as it measured treatment effects on two different cohorts. The first article 74 reports the effects and safety of standard treatment (ST) plus a homeopathic compound (Influcid [IFC]), or ST only, on a mixed age cohort with a URTI. The later article 28 reports the effects of ST plus IFC or ST only, on a paediatric cohort.…”

Homoeopathy for Upper Respiratory Tract Infection in Children: A Narrative Review of Research Evidence

“…A significantly higher number of patients were free from fever in 4 days in homoeopathic group (76.8%) than conventional group (56.7%) and absence of symptoms was 17.0% in homoeopathic group and 7.5% in the conventional group. 37 Complex homoeopathic medicine was used in another RCT as add-on therapy to conventional treatment in 261 children and again showed earlier symptom resolution from third day of treatment, and a significant improvement in Wisconsin Upper Respiratory Symptom Survey (WURSS) assessed global disease severity during the entire treatment period of URTI episode. 34 A double-blind RCT says that homoeopathy is not effective when used with adjuvant therapy in cases of otitis media with effusion.…”

Good Morning Future: Complementary Medicine's Next 25 Years

“…This favor, in turn, is due to the fact that conventional treatment options are very often fraught with side effects and much more expensive, or they produce public-health problems such as opiate dependency in pain sufferers and rising antimicrobial resistance through inadequate application. While conventional treatments of upper respiratory tract infections in children are still and against better evidence often contributing to the resistance problematic by using antibiotics, homeopathic or other CAM alternatives are available which are associated with good experiences [12]. In the USA, the integration of acupuncture and other CAM pain treatments into conventional programs was largely driven by the huge dependency problem caused by the overprescription of opiates.…”