Search

Case reports have been of central importance to the development of homeopathy over the past 200 years. With a special focus on homeopathy, we give an overview on guidelines and tools that may help to improve the quality of case reports. Reporting guidelines such as CARE ( Ca se Re port), HOM-CASE ( Hom eopathic Clinical Case Reports), and the WissHom Documentation Standard help to improve the quality of reporting and strengthen the scientific value of a case report. Additional scientific tools such as prospective outcome assessment, prognostic factor research, cognition-based medicine, and the Mo dified Nar anjo C riteria for H omeopathy (MONARCH) score may be helpful in improving case documentation and evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background  Polar symptoms (PS)—symptoms with opposite values—are frequently used in homeopathy, but have many misleading entries in the repertory. This is caused by using absolute occurrence of symptoms, causing the same medicine to appear in both (opposite) symptom rubrics, and by lack of comparison with other medicines. Some PS, like 'aversion/desire for sweets' have a frequency distribution that is not evenly distributed around the neutral value: a desire for sweets is much more common than aversion. A desire for sweets is an indication for a specific medicine only if this desire occurs more frequently in this specific medicine population than in the remainder of the population. We need to find the best way to represent this difference. Methods  A multi-centre, explorative, prospective, observational study was conducted by nine centres of the Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy. Two-hundred and sixteen patients were enrolled with chronic cough lasting more than 8 weeks, and received usual homeopathic care. During intake, 30 general PS, 27 polar cough symptoms and 3 non-polar cough symptoms were checked. Different ways of representing results were explored, including two quantities borrowed from mechanics: Centre of Mass (CoM) and Leverage. Results  At the fourth follow-up, three medicines with more than 10 cases with good results were identified: 20 Phosphorus , 19 Pulsatilla and 13 Sulphur. The mean value of the frequency distribution of some symptoms in the whole sample was considerably different from the neutral value. Comparing a medicine population with the remainder of the respective population can give results that differ from polarity analysis. For some symptoms, the 'distance' (Leverage) between the CoMs of the medicine population and the remainder of the population was clearer than the likelihood ratio (LR). Conclusion  If the LR value is not clear about the prognostic value in PS, notions from mechanics such as CoM and Leverage can clarify how to interpret a polar symptom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Cough is a major symptom of respiratory and some non-respiratory ailments for which patients usually seek primary medical care. Homoeopathy is frequently used for treatment of chronic cough. Objective: This study aims to assess whether homoeopathy is useful for treating chronic cough resulting from Upper airway cough syndrome (UACS), Asthma and related syndromes, or Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Study Design: A multi-centre, prospective, observational cohort study was design. Study setting: The study was conducted in the outpatient departments of 10 centres of Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy, India from May 2018 - June 2020. Patients: The study enrolled patients of any gender, between 7-65 years of age, presenting cough lasting >8 weeks. Main Outcome Measure(s): Cough Severity Index (CSI) and EQ-5D-5L scales were used to analyse the outcomes. Results: Out of 2397 patients screened, only 706 cases with minimum four follow ups were studied on modified Intention to Treat (mITT) basis. The outcomes of the study were analysed by CSI and EQ-5D-5L scores. The mean of the CSI score at baseline was 19.09 while it reduced to 3.89 in the eighth follow-up with p value p-value<0.05. Phosphorus, Arsenic album, Pulsatilla, Sulphur, Lycopodium and Silica were found to be the most often prescribed medicines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:  The Modified Naranjo Criteria for Homeopathy (MONARCH) inventory is a novel and useful tool for assessing the likelihood of a causal relationship between the homeopathic intervention and the ultimate clinical outcome., Objectives:  To explain and elaborate on the use of the MONARCH inventory to improve its consistency of use and thereby elevate the overall quality and evidentiary value of homeopathy case reports., Explanation and Elaboration:  Each of the 10 MONARCH inventory domains is explained and elaborated with the aid of references from published literature and hypothetical clinical situations. The MONARCH total score can range from -6 to +13; within that range, an arithmetic total of +6 is available from the scores of four critical domains, which should be given prominence in the overall consideration of causality. In reporting a clinical case, great importance should be placed on the narrative of the MONARCH evaluation process, domain by domain., Conclusion:  The application of MONARCH allows us to evaluate the likelihood of a causal relationship between the intervention and the observed clinical outcomes in successfully treated cases, thereby augmenting their evidentiary value., Competing Interests: None declared., (Faculty of Homeopathy. This article is published by Thieme.)