Institute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics, Charité University Medical Center, Luisenstr 57, D-10017 Berlin, Germany.
BMC Geriatr. 2010 Feb 22;10:10. doi: 10.1186/1471-2318-10-10.
Very little is known about the range of diagnoses, course of treatment and long-term outcome in elderly patients who choose to receive homeopathic medical treatment. We investigated homeopathic practice in an industrialised country under everyday conditions.The aim of the study was to determine the spectrum of diagnoses and treatments, as well as to describe the course of illness over time among older patients who chose to receive homeopathic treatment.
In this subgroup analysis of a prospective, multicentre cohort study totally including 3981 patients treated by homeopathic physicians in primary care practices in Germany and Switzerland, data was analysed from all patients > 70 years consulting the physician for the first time. The main outcome measures were: assessment by patient of the severity of complaints (numeric rating scales) and quality of life (SF-36) and by the physician of the severity of diagnoses (numeric rating scales) at baseline, and after 3, 12, and 24 months.
A total of 83 patients were included in the subgroup analysis (41% men, mean age 73.2 +/- (SD) 3.1 years; 59% women, 74.3 +/- 3.8 years).98.6 percent of all diagnoses were chronic with an average duration of 11.5 +/- 11.5 years. 82 percent of the patients were taking medication at baseline.The most frequent diagnoses were hypertension (20.5%, 11.1 +/- 7.5 years) and sleep disturbances (15.7%, 22.1 +/- 25.8 years).The severity of complaints decreased significantly between baseline and 24 months in both patients (from 6.3 (95%CI: 5.7-6.8) to 4.6 (4.0-5.1), p < 0.001) and physicians' assessments (from 6.6 (6.0-7.1) to 3.7 (3.2-4.3), p < 0.001); quality of life (SF 36) and the number of medicines taken did not significantly change.
The severity of disease showed marked and sustained improvements under homeopathic treatment, but this did not lead to an improvement of quality of life. Our findings might indicate that homeopathic medical therapy may play a beneficial role in the long-term care of older adults with chronic diseases and studies on comparative effectiveness are needed to evaluate this hypothesis.
在选择接受顺势疗法治疗的老年患者中，关于诊断范围、治疗过程和长期结果的了解甚少。我们在工业化国家的日常条件下调查了顺势疗法的实践。本研究的目的是确定选择接受顺势疗法治疗的老年患者的诊断和治疗范围，并描述随时间推移的疾病过程。
在这项对德国和瑞士初级保健医生进行的前瞻性、多中心队列研究的亚组分析中，我们分析了首次咨询医生的所有年龄>70 岁的患者的数据。主要观察指标为：患者自评（数字评分量表）和生活质量（SF-36），医生评估（数字评分量表）基线时、3 个月、12 个月和 24 个月时的严重程度。
共有 83 名患者纳入亚组分析（41%为男性，平均年龄 73.2±3.1 岁；59%为女性，74.3±3.8 岁）。所有诊断的 98.6%均为慢性疾病，平均病程为 11.5±11.5 年。82%的患者基线时正在服用药物。最常见的诊断是高血压（20.5%，11.1±7.5 年）和睡眠障碍（15.7%，22.1±25.8 年）。患者和医生的评估均显示，从基线到 24 个月，症状严重程度显著下降（从 6.3（95%CI：5.7-6.8）到 4.6（4.0-5.1），p<0.001）；从 6.6（6.0-7.1）到 3.7（3.2-4.3）（p<0.001）。生活质量（SF-36）和用药数量无显著变化。
在顺势疗法治疗下，疾病的严重程度明显且持续改善，但这并未改善生活质量。我们的发现可能表明，顺势疗法医疗疗法可能在慢性病老年患者的长期护理中发挥有益作用，需要进行比较效果的研究来评估这一假设。
