Influence of adjunctive classical homeopathy on global health status and subjective wellbeing in cancer patients – A pragmatic randomized controlled trial☆
Section snippets
Study design
The study was approved by the Ethical Committee of the Medical University of Vienna on November 4, 2008; # 513/2008. Included were all patients over 18 years of age prior to their first conventional treatment (chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgical therapy) who signed an informed consent form. The only exclusion criteria were inability to comply with the study protocol, and the mental inability to fill out the questionnaires. On their first visit, patients were told by an administrative
Patients’ characteristics (Fig. 1 and Table 1)
The study screened 453 patients, of whom 43 did not consent to participate. The remaining 410 were randomized. After randomization, 37 patients dropped out (16 in the homeopathy group, 21 in control). Thus, 373 patients received allocated treatment (194 in the homeopathy group, and 179 in the control group). 335 patients 173 patients in the adjunctive homeopathy group and 162 controls made the first two of the planned three clinic visits and completed the two sets of questionnaires. 137
Discussion
In this phase II study, we offered cancer patients with different malignancies structured access to homeopathy in addition to their conventional treatment. The study investigated the homeopathic method as such, not specific remedies. In a pragmatic trial, we evaluated the whole “homeopathic package,” including exploration and medication. To our knowledge, this is the first prospective randomized controlled phase II study that has evaluated the influence of complementary homeopathic treatment in
Conclusions
The results achieved in some three decades of research into homeopathic cancer treatment do not yet justify use of homeopathy as an alternative to conventional cancer therapy. On the other hand, there is a growing corpus of evidence indicating that homeopathy may play a significant role in integrative oncology as a supportive therapy. We believe our results bolster this view and suggest that global health status and subjective wellbeing of cancer patients can be significantly improved with
Conflict of interest
No competing financial interests exist. No funding had been obtained for this study from any source.
References (34)
- et al.
EORTC Quality of Life Group; Quality of Life Unit: Quality of life research within the EORTC-the EORTC QLQ-C30. European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer
Eur J Cancer
(2002) - et al.
Reporting data on homeopathic treatments (RedHot): a supplement to CONSORT
Homeopathy
(2007) - et al.
Use of complementary and alternative medicine in cancer patients: a European survey
Ann Oncol
(2005) Can low-temperature thermoluminescence cast light on the nature of ultra-high dilutions?
Homeopathy
(2007)- et al.
An assessment of the utilization of complementary and alternative medication in women with gynecologic or breast malignancies
J Clin Oncol
(2004) - et al.
Trends in alternative medicine use in the United States, 1990–1997: results of a follow-up national survey
J Am Med Assoc
(1998) - et al.
Recent patterns of medication use in the ambulatory adult population of the United States: the Slone survey
J Am Med Assoc
(2002) - et al.
Herbal products and conventional medicines used by community-residing older women
J Adv Nurs
(2001) - et al.
Complementary therapies in cancer patients: prevalence and patients motives
Wien Klin Wochenschr
(2003) - et al.
Prevalence of use of herbal products by adults in the Minneapolis/St Paul, Minn, metropolitan area
Mayo Clin Proc
(2001)
A comparison of complementary and alternative medicine use by gynecology and gynecologic oncology patients
Int J Gynecol Cancer
Prevalence of complementary medicine use in a phase 1 clinical trials program: the MD Anderson Cancer Center Experience
Cancer
Conventional and complementary therapies: a tale of two research standards?
J Clin Oncol
Use of homeopathy in pediatric oncology in Germany
Evid Based Complement Alternat Med
Classical homeopathy in the treatment of cancer patients – a prospective observational study of two independent cohorts
BMC Cancer
Organon der Heilkunst
The Complete Repertory. Institute for Research in Homeopathic Information and Symptomatology
Cited by (0)
- ☆
Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00861432.