Complementary Alternative Cardiovascular Medicine
Complementary Alternative Cardiovascular Medicine
Complementary Alternative Cardiovascular Medicine
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222 <strong>Alternative</strong> <strong>Cardiovascular</strong> <strong>Medicine</strong><br />
POSITIVE CLINICAL STUDIES<br />
There have been several well-designed randomized studies of the<br />
safety and effectiveness of homeopathy for specific symptoms/illnesses.<br />
Reilly et al. showed that homeopathic preparations (via both symptomatic<br />
and immunotherapy mechanisms) can reduce the severity and<br />
duration of allergic asthma (22)—individual study, with greater p value<br />
(increased from 0.003 to 0.0004) when results of 38 patients were combined<br />
with two other similar studies—hay fever (23), and allergic rhinitis<br />
(24). This last study found homeopathy’s nasal effects to be similar<br />
to topical steroids.<br />
Jacobs et al. published three clinical studies: two showed significant<br />
lessening of diarrhea’s effects in children compared to placebo (25,26).<br />
The other examined acute otitis media, and these results showed significant<br />
lessening in symptoms and (nonsignificant) lessening of treatment<br />
failures (27).<br />
A Harvard study in 1999 showed improvement in mild traumatic<br />
brain injury (28).<br />
A German study showed homeopathy’s equivalence to beta-histine in<br />
treating vertigo (29).<br />
Vickers’ meta-analysis of seven studies showed that the remedy<br />
oscillococcinum reduced the duration of influenza symptoms but not prevention<br />
(30)—although the overall quality of the studies was criticized.<br />
NEGATIVE CLINICAL STUDIES<br />
A common complaint of most authors of homeopathy meta-analyses<br />
is methodological flaws (31). For example, the Cochrane review of<br />
asthma studies, which contradicts Reilly, concluded that design flaws<br />
precluded comment on efficacy (32). Better design with larger studies<br />
unencumbered by belief systems are urgently needed (33).<br />
At this point, there are several well-designed studies that show no<br />
effect with homeopathy on specific conditions. These include:<br />
The use of arnica in surgery (meta-analysis of eight studies) (34) and<br />
postoperative hematomas (35).<br />
Migraine headaches were not helped with homeopathy in three different<br />
studies (36–38).<br />
Two meta-analyses of overall effects compared to placebo that conclude<br />
that the quality of the homeopathic studies cannot support its<br />
superiority over placebo (20,21).<br />
One issue that splits mainstream medicine and the homeopathic community<br />
alike is which remedies to use in homeopathic studies. Traditionally<br />
in homeopathy, each individual receives a remedy that is highly