'Homeopathy works!'
by JENNY HOPE
Daily Mail

Homeopathy really does work and doctors should recognise its healing
effects, say researchers.

A study found that allergy sufferers who were given homeopathic
treatment were ten times more likely to be cured than those given a
dummy pill instead.

PM   An awful and clearly deliberate missrepresentation.   I am very
familiar with this 2000 study .   There was actually no overall significant
improvement in symptoms for homeopathy when compared to placebo.
Homeopaths like to highlight the isolated finding that there was an
improvement in nasal air flow in the homoepathy group, but if not associated
with symptom  relief this is of no obvious clinical value (certainly not a
"cure") and no other study has been able to such demonstrate objective
beneifts from homeopathic preparations.   It is obviously a trial artefact
of some kind.

PM When combined with three other studies in a rather dubious meta analysis
there was significant symptom benefits for homoepathic preparations over
placebo, but this seems to be explained by exceptional poor results (3%) in
the placebo group, suggesting loss of blinding.

Here is the  abstract.
BMJ. 2000 Aug 19-26;321(7259):471-6

Randomised controlled trial of homoeopathy versus placebo in perennial
allergic rhinitis with overview of four trial series.Taylor MA, Reilly D,
Llewellyn-Jones RH, McSharry C, Aitchison TC.

University Department of Medicine, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Glasgow G31 2ER.

OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that homoeopathy is a placebo by examining
its effect in patients with allergic rhinitis and so contest the evidence
from three previous trials in this series. Design: Randomised, double blind,
placebo controlled, parallel group, multicentre study. SETTING: Four general
practices and a hospital ear, nose, and throat outpatient department.
PARTICIPANTS: 51 patients with perennial allergic rhinitis. Intervention:
Random assignment to an oral 30c homoeopathic preparation of principal
inhalant allergen or to placebo. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Changes from
baseline in nasal inspiratory peak flow and symptom visual analogue scale
score over third and fourth weeks after randomisation. RESULTS: Fifty
patients completed the study. The homoeopathy group had a significant
objective improvement in nasal airflow compared with the placebo group (mean
difference 19.8 l/min, 95% confidence interval 10.4 to 29.1, P=0.0001). Both
groups reported improvement in symptoms, with patients taking homoeopathy
reporting more improvement in all but one of the centres, which had more
patients with aggravations. On average no significant difference between the
groups was seen on visual analogue scale scores. Initial aggravations of
rhinitis symptoms were more common with homoeopathy than placebo (7 (30%) v
2 (7%), P=0.04). Addition of these results to those of three previous trials
(n=253) showed a mean symptom reduction on visual analogue scores of 28%
(10.9 mm) for homoeopathy compared with 3% (1.1 mm) for placebo (95%
confidence interval 4.2 to 15.4, P=0.0007). CONCLUSION: The objective
results reinforce earlier evidence that homoeopathic dilutions differ from
placebo.

PM

Doctors should be more positive about the alternative medicine, which
is the only complementary therapy available on the NHS, the
researchers said.

Their study attempts to settle the controversy over homeopathic
treatment, which critics say is not effective because of the tiny
level of active substance used in most remedies.

It works on the principle that a substance which in large doses will
cause the symptoms of an illness can be used in minute doses to
relieve the same symptoms.

Critics argue that the active substance is so diluted that homeopathic
remedies have no more effect than placebo or dummy treatment.

The study put homeopathy to the test in 50 patients suffering from
nasal allergies. They were given either a homeopathic preparation or a
placebo.

Each day for four weeks patients recruited from general practices and
a hospital in London measured their nasal air flow and recorded
symptoms such as blocked, runny or itchy nose, sneezing or eye
irritation.

Both groups reported that they got better - but on average patients
who received homeopathy had a 28 per cent improvement in nasal air
flow compared with 3 per cent among those in the placebo group.

The study was carried out by doctors in Glasgow, led by Dr David
Reilly of the Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital, one of five specialist
hospitals in Britain. He said the difference in results from the two
treatments was statistically significant.

Dr Reilly said this was the fourth trial carried out by his hospital,
all with similar results. In addition, there were positive findings in
70 per cent of a further 180 clinical trials.

'I hope this will encourage doctors to examine the volume of evidence
supporting homeopathy - they might be quite surprised at the positive
outcome in many trials,' he said.

He added that it would take consistent scientific investigation to
persuade some doctors, but attitudes were changing.

About 20 per cent of doctors in Scotland have basic homeopathic
training compared with one per cent 15 years ago.

'It isn't just about the remedies, which can be put to the test in
trials, but about a greater holistic approach in encouraging self-
healing and self-recovery.'

Dr Bob Leckridge, president of the Faculty of Homeopathy - the body
for doctors, vets, nurses and other health professionals - said: 'This
latest research builds on existing evidence that homeopathy works,
something that hundreds of doctors and their patients have known for
200 years.'

© 2008 Associated Newspapers Ltd

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4040/Homeopathy-works.html