Diagnostic Profiles and Prescribing Patterns in Everyday Anthroposophic Medical Practice – a Prospective Multi-Centre Study

Abstract

Background: Although anthroposophic medicine has been used for more than 80 years and global interest in complementary treatments is increasing, a comprehensive and long-term description of everyday anthroposophic care is still lacking. Our study aims to evaluate how anthroposophic medicine is practised under everyday conditions. Methods: A total of 38 primary-care physicians in Germany participated in this prospective, multi-centre observational study. Prescriptions, diagnoses, and non-pharmacological therapies were reported for each consecutive patient. Results: In 2005, 95,116 prescriptions for 32,839 patients (56.2% children, 57.3% female) were recorded. The median duration of consultation depended on physician specialization (general practitioners: 9.5 min; paediatricians: 8.1 min). The most frequent single diagnoses were acute upper respiratory tract infections (URTI), otitis media, and bronchitis in children; hypertension, breast cancer, and depressive episodes in adult females; and hypertension, URTI, and asthma in adult males. Anthroposophic remedies accounted for 41.8% of all drugs prescribed. The odds ratio (OR) for receiving an anthroposophic remedy was very high for cancer (OR = 4.5; 95% CI: 4.2–4.8) and >1 for dorsopathies (OR = 1.5; CI: 1.3–1.6), otitis media (OR = 1.3; CI: 1.2–1.3), and URTI (OR = 1.1; CI: 1.1–1.2). Of the 5,289 therapeutic procedures prescribed, 27% were anthroposophic. Conclusion: A broad range of anthroposophic remedies and non-pharmacological therapies are prescribed for a specific set of diseases in everyday anthroposophic practice. Particularly, patients <60 years received anthroposophic care. Our findings will help in the planning and implementation of further studies.

Adverse Drug Reactions for CAM and Conventional Drugs Detected in a Network of Physicians Certified to Prescribe CAM Drugs

“…9 This study used anonymized data on ADRs. For German physicians, it is mandatory to report suspected serious, rare, and unexpected ADRs regardless of the drug group (CAM or CON) to the spontaneous reporting system.…”

“…8 Upper respiratory tract infections (URIs) are among the leading reasons for doctor visits 9 and a common diagnosis in primary care. 10 A study by Jeschke et al (2007) of 12,081 outpatients in Germany found that 63.0% of patients with diseases of the respiratory system were treated with CAM drugs only.…”

“…[9][10][11][12] Although an analysis by Farah et al (2000) of 20 years of adverse reaction reports to the World Health Organization (WHO) found "substantial evidence" that herbal medicines can cause serious ADRs, 16 there is a lack of information regarding the rates of occurrence of ADRs with CAM. 17 ADRs are considered to be a leading cause of morbidity and mortality.…”

Prescribing pattern of Bryophyllum preparations among a network of anthroposophic physicians

“…The Evaluation of Anthroposophic Medicine (EvaMed) network aimed to evaluate the use of remedies from complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in primary care with regard to prescribing patterns, efficacy, and safety [19][20][21][22][23][24]. 38 German physicians participated in this network by entering patient data on age, gender, diagnosis, and treatments.…”

“…38 German physicians participated in this network by entering patient data on age, gender, diagnosis, and treatments. The resulting data bank has been / is being used to determine which remedies are being prescribed in general [19], which ones are prescribed for a certain diagnosis or group of diagnoses [20,24], for a defined patient group [22,23], and in order to characterize the prescribing pattern of a particular group of remedies [21].…”