ArticleMultidisciplinary respiratory medicine2016
Does homeopathic medicine have a preventive effect on respiratory tract infections? A real life observational study.
Article in Multidisciplinary respiratory medicine, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- Homeopathic medicinal products for preventing and treating acute respiratory tract infections in children.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Homeopathic medicinal products for preventing and treating acute respiratory tract infections in children.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- Homeopathic medicinal products for preventing and treating acute respiratory tract infections in children.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- Prevention of recurrent respiratory infections : Inter-society Consensus.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2021Article
- OscillococcinumDrugs in context · 2021Article
- The preventive effect on respiratory tract infections of OscillococcinumClinicoEconomics and outcomes research : CEOR · 2018Article
- Influenza and influenza-like syndromes: the subjects' beliefs, the attitude to prevention and treatment, and the impact in Italian general population.Multidisciplinary respiratory medicine · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHomeopathic medicine is a branch of integrative medicine that has been gaining increasing popularity. However, its clinical application remains controversial. To improve the understanding of homeopathy, observational studies-which monitor the effects of homeopathy in real-life clinical settings-are a helpful adjunct to randomized controlled trials. The goal of this controlled observational study was to investigate the role of the homeopathic medicine in preventing respiratory tract infections (RTIs).
methodsThis retrospective analysis of patients' medical records focused on a single centre from 2002 to 2011, and examined 459 patients, out of whom 248 were treated with homeopathic medicine (specific extract of duck liver and heart) and 211 were not treated. All patients were followed-up for at least 1 year, and up to a maximum of 10 years.
resultsA significant reduction in the frequency of onset of RTIs was found in both the homeopathic medicine and untreated groups. The reduction in the mean number of RTI episodes during the period of observation vs. the year before inclusion in the study was significantly greater in the homeopathic-treated group than in untreated patients (-4.76 ± 1.45 vs. -3.36 ± 1.30; p = 0.001). The beneficial effect of the homeopathic medicine was not significantly related to gender, age, smoking habits or concomitant respiratory diseases when compared to the effect observed in untreated patients.
conclusionThese results suggest that homeopathic medicine may have a positive effect in preventing RTIs. However, randomized studies are needed before any firm conclusion can be reached.
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