Homeopathic treatment of patients with psoriasis – a prospective observational study with 2 years follow-up
CM Witt,*† R Lüdtke,‡ SN Willich†
†
Institute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics, Charité University Medical Center, Berlin, Germany
‡
Karl and Veronica Carstens Foundation, Essen, Germany
*Correspondence: CM Witt. E-mail:
claudia.witt@charite.deAbstract
Design Prospective multicentre observational study.
Objective To evaluate details and effects of homeopathic treatment in patients with psoriasis in usual medical care.
Methods
Primary care patients were evaluated over 2 years using standardized questionnaires, recording diagnoses and complaints severity, health-related quality of life (QoL), medical history, consultations, all treatments, and use of other health services.
Results
Forty-five physicians treated 82 adults, 51.2% women, aged 41.6 ± 12.2 (mean ± SD) years. Patients had psoriasis for 14.7 ± 11.9 years; 96.3% had been treated before. Initial case taking took 127 ± 47 min. The 7.4 ± 7.4 subsequent consultations (duration: 19.4 ± 10.5 min) cumulated to 169.0 ± 138.8 min.
Patients received 6.0 ± 4.9 homeopathic prescriptions. Diagnoses and complaints severity improved markedly with large effect sizes (Cohen’s d = 1.02–2.09). In addition, QoL improved (SF-36 physical component score d = 0.26, mental component score d = 0.49),
while conventional treatment and health service use were considerably reduced.
Conclusions
Under classical homeopathic treatment, patients with psoriasis improved in symptoms and QoL.Received: 26 June 2008; Accepted 24 September 2008
