Homeopathic treatment of elderly patients - a prospective observational study with follow-up over a two year period

Abstract

BackgroundVery little is known about the range of diagnoses, course of treatment and long-term outcome in elderly patients who choose to receive homeopathic medical treatment. We investigated homeopathic practice in an industrialised country under everyday conditions.The aim of the study was to determine the spectrum of diagnoses and treatments, as well as to describe the course of illness over time among older patients who chose to receive homeopathic treatment.MethodsIn this subgroup analysis of a prospective, multicentre cohort study totally including 3981 patients treated by homeopathic physicians in primary care practices in Germany and Switzerland, data was analysed from all patients > 70 years consulting the physician for the first time. The main outcome measures were: assessment by patient of the severity of complaints (numeric rating scales) and quality of life (SF-36) and by the physician of the severity of diagnoses (numeric rating scales) at baseline, and after 3, 12, and 24 months.ResultsA total of 83 patients were included in the subgroup analysis (41% men, mean age 73.2 ± (SD) 3.1 years; 59% women, 74.3 ± 3.8 years).98.6 percent of all diagnoses were chronic with an average duration of 11.5 ± 11.5 years. 82 percent of the patients were taking medication at baseline.The most frequent diagnoses were hypertension (20.5%, 11.1 ± 7.5 years) and sleep disturbances (15.7%, 22.1 ± 25.8 years).The severity of complaints decreased significantly between baseline and 24 months in both patients (from 6.3 (95%CI: 5.7-6.8) to 4.6 (4.0-5.1), p < 0.001) and physicians' assessments (from 6.6 (6.0-7.1) to 3.7 (3.2-4.3), p < 0.001); quality of life (SF 36) and the number of medicines taken did not significantly change.ConclusionThe severity of disease showed marked and sustained improvements under homeopathic treatment, but this did not lead to an improvement of quality of life. Our findings might indicate that homeopathic medical therapy may play a beneficial role in the long-term care of older adults with chronic diseases and studies on comparative effectiveness are needed to evaluate this hypothesis.

High Levels of Geriatric Palliative Care Needs in Hip Fracture Patients Before the Hip Fracture

“…Among a representative population of older adults we showed that those with hip fracture had higher illness burden (15,16). They were more likely to have ADL dependency and IADL difficulty and were more likely to have helpers.…”

An unusual case of refractory metabolic acidosis

“…[16] Causticum Hah is a homeopathic medicinal preparation given for chronic rheumatological conditions and some of the respiratory symptoms. [6] We managed this as a case of alcohol intoxication as the homeopathic medicinal preparation was having 90% vol/vol of alcohol and he had consumed it in excessive amount (1350 mL).…”

“…The patients who seek homeopathic treatment are primarily those suffering from long-standing, chronic diseases. It is based on the “principle of similars,” where by highly diluted preparations of substances that cause symptoms in healthy individuals are used to stimulate healing in patients who have similar symptoms when ill.[1] Some of these medicines may have considerable risk of severe side effects. We hereby report an unusual case of refractory metabolic acidosis after homeopathic medicinal treatment.…”

An Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura Patient Treated With Homeopathy: A Case Report

“…In homeopathy, highlydiluted preparations of substances that cause symptoms in healthy individuals are used to stimulate healing reactions in patients who display similar symptoms when ill [1]. Homeopathy is applied to treat various diseases and conditions such as cancer [2][3][4][5][6][7], allergies [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16], mood disorders [17][18][19], cardiovascular diseases (CVD) [20,21], osteoarthritis [22], hemophilia [23], headache [24,25], and pain [26,27].…”