Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23901266›Full record

Trial reportClinical interventions in aging2013

Effects and feasibility of an Integrative Medicine program for geriatric patients-a cluster-randomized pilot study.

Michael Teut, Katharina Schnabel, Roland Baur, Annette Kerckhoff, Frauke Reese, Niels Pilgram, Franziska Berger, Rainer Luedtke, Claudia M Witt

Abstract readComparative StudyRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Clinical interventions in aging, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. The State of the Evidence for Whole-System, Multi-Modality Naturopathic Medicine: A Systematic Scoping Review.Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.) · 2019
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Michael TeutInstitute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany. michael.teut@charite.de
Katharina Schnabel
Roland Baur
Annette Kerckhoff
Frauke Reese
Niels Pilgram
Franziska Berger
Rainer Luedtke
Claudia M Witt

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundOlder adults often use complementary medicine; however, very few interventional studies have focused on them. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and to obtain preliminary data on effectiveness of an Integrative Medicine (IM) program compared to usual medical care.

methodsThe study consisted of older adults living in shared apartment communities including caregiving. The shared apartments were cluster-randomized to the IM program or Usual Care (UC). IM consisted of additional lifestyle modification (exercise and diet), external naturopathic applications, homeopathic treatment, and modification of conventional drug therapy for 12 months. The UC group received conventional care alone. The following outcomes were used: Nurses Observation Scale for Geriatric Patients (NOSGER); Assessment of Motor and Process Skills; Barthel Index; Qualidem; Profile of Wellbeing; and Mini-mental State Examination. Exploratory effect sizes (Cohen's d, means adjusted for differences of baseline values) were calculated to analyze group differences.

resultsA total of eight shared apartment communities were included; four were allocated to IM (29 patients, median seven patients; [mean ± standard deviation] 82.7 ± 8.6 years) and four to UC (29 patients, median eight patients; 76.0 ± 12.8 years of age). After 12 months, effect sizes ≥0.3 were observed for activities of daily living on the NOSGER-Activities of Daily Living subscale (0.53), Barthel Index (0.30), Qualidem total sum score (0.39), Profile of Wellbeing (0.36), NOSGER-Impaired Social Behavior (0.47), and NOSGER-Depressed Mood subscales (0.40). Smaller or no effects were observed for all other outcomes. The intervention itself was found to be feasible, but elaborate and time consuming. DISCUSSION: This exploratory pilot study showed that for a full-scale trial, the outcomes of Activities of Daily Living and Quality of Life seem to be the most promising. The results have to be interpreted with care; larger confirmatory trials are necessary to validate the effects.

Indexed as

Quality of LifeActivities of Daily LivingAgedCluster AnalysisFeasibility StudiesFemaleGeriatric AssessmentHumansIntegrative MedicineMaleNeuropsychological TestsPilot ProjectsTreatment OutcomeActivities of Daily Livingapartment-sharing communitiescaregivingcomplementary and alternative medicine strategieshomeopathyNOSGERolder adults

Identifiers

PMID23901266
PMCPMC3724560

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.