2017, Volume 10, Issue 1, pp 47 – 49

Serious mistakes in meta-analysis of homeopathic research

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Authors and Affiliations

Correspondence to: Prof. George Vithoulkas, International Academy of Classical Homeopathy, Alonissos 37005, Greece, Phone: +30 24240 65142, Fax: +30 24240 65147, E-mail: george@vithoulkas.com

Abstract

The article discussed the immanent problems of meta-analyses selecting a number of independent trials in homeopathy, within which, the purpose was to examine the effectiveness of homeopathic treatment. Our focus lied in clarifying that the complex effects of homeopathic treatment known from history and day-to-day practice have not been respected so far.

The examination of most of the homeopathic trials showed that studies rarely account for homeopathic principles, in order to assess the effectiveness of the treatment. The main flaw was that trials reflect the point of view that the treatment with a specific remedy could be administered in a particular disease. However, homeopathy aims to treat the whole person, rather than the diseases and each case has to be treated individually with an individualized remedy. Furthermore, the commonly known events during the course of homeopathic treatment, such as “initial aggravation” and “symptom-shift” were not considered in almost all the studies. Thus, only few trials were eligible for meta-analyses, if at all. These and other factors were discussed and certain homeopathic principles were suggested to be respected in further trials. It is expected, that a better understanding of homeopathic principles would provide guidelines for homeopathic research, which are more acceptable to both homeopathy and conventional medicine.

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About this article

PMC ID: 5304371
PubMed ID: 28255376
DOI: 

Article Publishing Date (print): Jan-Mar 2017
Available Online: 

Journal information

ISSN Printing: 1844-122X
ISSN Online: 1844-3117
Journal Title: Journal of Medicine and Life

Copyright License: Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.


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