[Omeo33] Art 0615 - Homeopathy, 2006, 95 (4), 215-222

[Gino Santini]

Evaluation of specific and non-specific effects in homeopathy:  
Feasibility study for a randomised trial
Peter Fisher, Rob McCarney, Christian Hasford and Andrew Vickers

Objective - To determine the feasibility, in terms of acceptability to  
patients, physicians and other staff; data return and statistical  
power of a study to elucidate the relative contributions of specific  
and non-specific effects in homeopathic treatment of dermatitis.  
Design - Randomised, controlled 4-arm trial, 2 arms double-blind.  
Setting - Outpatient clinic, Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital.  
Participants - Seventy-five adult patients with dermatitis.  
Interventions - Patients were randomly allocated to: ‘fast track’ open  
verum homeopathy, ‘fast track’ double-blind verum homeopathy, ‘fast  
track’ double-blind placebo homeopathy or waiting list control. Main  
outcome measures - One hundred millimeter visual analogue scale of  
overall symptom severity; 10 point digital scores of sleep, itching,  
skin condition; weekly 5-point Likert scale of topical steroid use;  
Dermatology Life Quality Index at entry and completion. Results -  
Recruitment was below target, but the study was acceptable to staff  
and feasible. Blinded patients were more likely to withdraw (P=0.021,  
É‘2 test). After correction for baseline differences and multiple  
comparisons, no outcome measure showed statistically significant  
between group differences. Blindness appeared to have a negative  
effect, but this was confounded by differential withdrawal.  
Conclusions - A definitive trial of this design is unlikely to  
discriminate the relative contributions of the non-specific and  
specific effects to the outcome of homeopathic treatment of  
dermatitis, because of patient preference issues.

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