Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36961535›Full record

ArticleWiener klinische Wochenschrift2024

Homeopathy-A lively relic of the prescientific era.

Yannick Borkens, Udo Endruscheit, Christian W Lübbers

Open access · hybridFull text read
In one paragraph

Article in Wiener klinische Wochenschrift, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
2.4field-weighted citation impact, top 12% of its field
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

1 citing paper in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. 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

3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Yannick BorkensINH-Informationsnetzwerk Homöopathie, GWUP e. V., Arheilger Weg 11, 64380, Roßdorf, Hessen, Germany. yannick.borkens@charite.de.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9368-6985
Udo EndruscheitINH-Informationsnetzwerk Homöopathie, GWUP e. V., Arheilger Weg 11, 64380, Roßdorf, Hessen, Germany.
Christian W LübbersINH-Informationsnetzwerk Homöopathie, GWUP e. V., Arheilger Weg 11, 64380, Roßdorf, Hessen, Germany.
Industrial Union of Metalworkers · DEMarquardt (Germany) · DEWehrwissenschaftliche Institut für Schutztechnologien · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Homeopathy was first postulated by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann in 1796 and 220 years later homeopathy is the most popular and widespread alternative medicine. Partly, it is also part of the national healthcare and insurance systems but homeopathy is not without controversy within the medical and healthcare community. Its implausible basic assumptions, some of which contradict natural laws, do not lead us to expect that its remedies have any specific effect. In fact, there is no study or systematic review to date that reliably certifies homeopathy to have an effect beyond the placebo effect and other context effects. In this respect it must be disconcerting how widely homeopathy is applied and represented in therapeutic practice. It indeed claims a role within scientific (evidence-based) medicine but cannot substantiate this claim. It displays clear characteristics of pseudoscience [1]. This implies a lot of problems, such as misleading people and tackling medical ethics up to scientific publication practices. Furthermore, it turns out that quite a few people do not know exactly what homeopathy is, which may lead them to make wrong decisions for their personal health. This article summarizes the information about homeopathy and its problematic implications and serves as a general introduction to this topic and its unacceptable role in today's medicine.The medical irrelevance of the sham method of homeopathy has been proven with more than sufficient probability [2]. As a major testimonial, the statement "Homeopathic products and practices" of the European (EASAC 2017) can be regarded. The primary aim of this brief report is therefore not to take another look at homeopathy from a medical scientific perspective, but rather focus attention on the implications of the still continuous and largely uncritically accepted existence of this method in medical practice, in the medical scientific sphere and in the judgement of the general public.

Indexed as

Evidence-Based MedicineHomeopathyAustriaGermanyHumansAlternative medicineBrief ReportEvidence-based medicineHomeopathyScientific integrity

Identifiers

PMID36961535
PMCPMC10036975
OpenAlexW4360814901

What OpenQuestion holds

Textfull text, public
LicenceCC BY
reference markers read1
measurements read1
Read underepoch 390

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.