[Omeo33] Art 1108 - Ann Oncol, 2010, 21 (5), 1094-1099

[Gino Santini]

Characteristics of cancer patients using homeopathy compared with  
those in conventional care: a cross-sectional study
C. Guethlin, H. Walach, J. Naumann, H.H. Bartsch4 and M. Rostock

Background: There are only few studies on cancer patients who are  
treated in complementary and alternative medicine clinics and  
comparing them with patients in conventional care. We will present the  
comparison of characteristics of two patient cohorts: one was treated  
in a homeopathic cancer care clinic and one was treated in a  
conventional oncology care (CC) outpatient clinic.
Patients and methods: Six-hundred and forty-seven patients were  
included in this cross-sectional cohort study and had to fill in  
questionnaires [health-related quality of life (QoL) (Functional  
Assessment of Cancer Therapy—General Scale), depression and anxiety  
(Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), fatigue (Multidimensional  
Fatigue Inventory) and expectancies toward treatment]. Clinical data  
were extracted from medical records. This study presents the  
comparison of both cohorts.
Results: Patients in the homeopathy cohort are younger, better  
educated and more often employed than patients in the CC cohort. The  
most pronounced differences indicate longer disease histories and  
different diagnostic and clinical pretreatment variables. Despite the  
clinical differences, QoL as well as anxiety, depression and fatigue  
was similar in both the groups.
Conclusions: Homeopathic treatment is sought by cancer patients at a  
different phase during the course of the disease, which has particular  
implications for research. However, expectancies toward the benefit of  
the treatment as well as QoL data are similar.

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