Recommendations for Designing, Conducting and Reporting Clinical Observational Studies in Homeopathic Veterinary Medicine

Abstract

Background Clinical observational studies are an important methodological approach in human and veterinary research, examining and describing treatment experience with good external validity. There are currently few observational studies in the field of homeopathic veterinary medicine. Aim The aim of the study was to develop recommendations for designing, conducting and reporting observational studies in homeopathic veterinary medicine. Materials and Methods A literature review was performed using various search strategies for identifying guidelines and checklist tools relevant for observational studies, veterinary research and homeopathy. Useful guidelines were selected. Prior recommendations for designing and conducting observational studies in human homeopathic medicine were supplemented with recommendations for homeopathic veterinary medicine that were evaluated by an expert panel. Results The veterinary extension of the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology – Veterinary (STROBE-Vet) statement was identified as a useful tool to improve the reporting quality of observational studies, and it has been supplemented here with additional recommendations that are applicable to homeopathy. STROBE-Vet is complemented in the literature by several reports, checklists and guidelines on veterinary medicine in general, such as the Checklist for One Health Epidemiological Reporting of Evidence (COHERE) and the Animal Health Surveillance Reporting Guidelines (AHSURED). Identified items that related to laboratory animal research were excluded as non-relevant to our study. Conclusion Clinical observational studies are an important methodological approach, having currently unrealized potential in the field of homeopathic veterinary medicine. With relatively minor adjustments, the practical guidelines and checklists available to researchers in designing, conducting and reporting observational studies in human homeopathic medicine have been adapted for homeopathic veterinary medicine, for which high quality can be assured by implementing recommendations such as those in STROBE-Vet. With the emergence of the One Health concept, the COHERE checklist can be viewed with growing significance.

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“…Dr Petra Weiermayer (Austria) also presented the recently published recommendations for designing, conducting and reporting clinical observational studies in homeopathic veterinary medicine. 16 Similarly, Dr Peter Smith (Ireland) described how the homeopathic medicines proving team at the Durban University of Technology were able to perform a proving of Galium mollugo using a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trial design, in strict accordance with all legal and ethical requirements. Dr Smith stressed that it is indeed possible to meet the harsh objectivity required within this highly conventional operationalised framework, without losing sight of the purpose of a homeopathic proving, and that we should not be deterred from working toward this level of transparency and rigour.…”

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“…3 Two review articles also feature in the list of contents: the first of those emphasizes the important contribution that well-informed homeopathy can make in the management of menopausal symptoms in an integrative health care setting 4 ; the second review presents a set of recommendations for designing, conducting and reporting clinical observational studies in homeopathic veterinary medicine. 5 This noteworthy issue of the journal continues with a comprehensive evaluation of selected plant-derived homeopathic medicines for their action against cervical cancer in a study that used both in-vitro and impressive in-silico (computer modelling) methods 6 and with an elegant veterinary case report article on the use of homeopathy to promote ovarian follicular development in two pythons. 7…”