Homoeopathic treatment for chronic cough - a multicentric, prospective, observational cohort study.

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]