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Classical homeopathy in the treatment of cancer patients - a prospective observational study of two independent cohorts

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Classical homeopathy in the treatment of cancer patients - a prospective observational study of two independent cohorts. / Rostock, Matthias; Naumann, Johannes; Guethlin, Corina; Guenther, Lars; Bartsch, Hans H; Walach, Harald.

In: BMC CANCER, Vol. 11, 17.01.2011, p. 19.

Research output: SCORING: Contribution to journal › SCORING: Journal article › Research › peer-review

Harvard

Rostock, M, Naumann, J, Guethlin, C, Guenther, L, Bartsch, HH & Walach, H 2011, 'Classical homeopathy in the treatment of cancer patients - a prospective observational study of two independent cohorts', BMC CANCER, vol. 11, pp. 19. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2407-11-19

APA

Rostock, M., Naumann, J., Guethlin, C., Guenther, L., Bartsch, H. H., & Walach, H. (2011). Classical homeopathy in the treatment of cancer patients - a prospective observational study of two independent cohorts. BMC CANCER, 11, 19. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2407-11-19

Vancouver

Rostock M, Naumann J, Guethlin C, Guenther L, Bartsch HH, Walach H. Classical homeopathy in the treatment of cancer patients - a prospective observational study of two independent cohorts. BMC CANCER. 2011 Jan 17;11:19. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2407-11-19

Bibtex

@article{5065cfd7982d40f1a5b6e242010f61e2,
title = "Classical homeopathy in the treatment of cancer patients - a prospective observational study of two independent cohorts",
abstract = "BACKGROUND: Many cancer patients seek homeopathy as a complementary therapy. It has rarely been studied systematically, whether homeopathic care is of benefit for cancer patients.METHODS: We conducted a prospective observational study with cancer patients in two differently treated cohorts: one cohort with patients under complementary homeopathic treatment (HG; n = 259), and one cohort with conventionally treated cancer patients (CG; n = 380). For a direct comparison, matched pairs with patients of the same tumour entity and comparable prognosis were to be formed. Main outcome parameter: change of quality of life (FACT-G, FACIT-Sp) after 3 months. Secondary outcome parameters: change of quality of life (FACT-G, FACIT-Sp) after a year, as well as impairment by fatigue (MFI) and by anxiety and depression (HADS).RESULTS: HG: FACT-G, or FACIT-Sp, respectively improved statistically significantly in the first three months, from 75.6 (SD 14.6) to 81.1 (SD 16.9), or from 32.1 (SD 8.2) to 34.9 (SD 8.32), respectively. After 12 months, a further increase to 84.1 (SD 15.5) or 35.2 (SD 8.6) was found. Fatigue (MFI) decreased; anxiety and depression (HADS) did not change. CG: FACT-G remained constant in the first three months: 75.3 (SD 17.3) at t0, and 76.6 (SD 16.6) at t1. After 12 months, there was a slight increase to 78.9 (SD 18.1). FACIT-Sp scores improved significantly from t0 (31.0 - SD 8.9) to t1 (32.1 - SD 8.9) and declined again after a year (31.6 - SD 9.4). For fatigue, anxiety, and depression, no relevant changes were found. 120 patients of HG and 206 patients of CG met our criteria for matched-pairs selection. Due to large differences between the two patient populations, however, only 11 matched pairs could be formed. This is not sufficient for a comparative study.CONCLUSION: In our prospective study, we observed an improvement of quality of life as well as a tendency of fatigue symptoms to decrease in cancer patients under complementary homeopathic treatment. It would take considerably larger samples to find matched pairs suitable for comparison in order to establish a definite causal relation between these effects and homeopathic treatment.",
keywords = "Anxiety/therapy, Depression/therapy, Fatigue/therapy, Female, Homeopathy/methods, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Neoplasms/pathology, Prospective Studies, Quality of Life, Surveys and Questionnaires, Time Factors, Treatment Outcome",
author = "Matthias Rostock and Johannes Naumann and Corina Guethlin and Lars Guenther and Bartsch, {Hans H} and Harald Walach",
year = "2011",
month = jan,
day = "17",
doi = "10.1186/1471-2407-11-19",
language = "English",
volume = "11",
pages = "19",
journal = "BMC CANCER",
issn = "1471-2407",
publisher = "BioMed Central Ltd.",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Classical homeopathy in the treatment of cancer patients - a prospective observational study of two independent cohorts

AU - Rostock, Matthias

AU - Naumann, Johannes

AU - Guethlin, Corina

AU - Guenther, Lars

AU - Bartsch, Hans H

AU - Walach, Harald

PY - 2011/1/17

Y1 - 2011/1/17

N2 - BACKGROUND: Many cancer patients seek homeopathy as a complementary therapy. It has rarely been studied systematically, whether homeopathic care is of benefit for cancer patients.METHODS: We conducted a prospective observational study with cancer patients in two differently treated cohorts: one cohort with patients under complementary homeopathic treatment (HG; n = 259), and one cohort with conventionally treated cancer patients (CG; n = 380). For a direct comparison, matched pairs with patients of the same tumour entity and comparable prognosis were to be formed. Main outcome parameter: change of quality of life (FACT-G, FACIT-Sp) after 3 months. Secondary outcome parameters: change of quality of life (FACT-G, FACIT-Sp) after a year, as well as impairment by fatigue (MFI) and by anxiety and depression (HADS).RESULTS: HG: FACT-G, or FACIT-Sp, respectively improved statistically significantly in the first three months, from 75.6 (SD 14.6) to 81.1 (SD 16.9), or from 32.1 (SD 8.2) to 34.9 (SD 8.32), respectively. After 12 months, a further increase to 84.1 (SD 15.5) or 35.2 (SD 8.6) was found. Fatigue (MFI) decreased; anxiety and depression (HADS) did not change. CG: FACT-G remained constant in the first three months: 75.3 (SD 17.3) at t0, and 76.6 (SD 16.6) at t1. After 12 months, there was a slight increase to 78.9 (SD 18.1). FACIT-Sp scores improved significantly from t0 (31.0 - SD 8.9) to t1 (32.1 - SD 8.9) and declined again after a year (31.6 - SD 9.4). For fatigue, anxiety, and depression, no relevant changes were found. 120 patients of HG and 206 patients of CG met our criteria for matched-pairs selection. Due to large differences between the two patient populations, however, only 11 matched pairs could be formed. This is not sufficient for a comparative study.CONCLUSION: In our prospective study, we observed an improvement of quality of life as well as a tendency of fatigue symptoms to decrease in cancer patients under complementary homeopathic treatment. It would take considerably larger samples to find matched pairs suitable for comparison in order to establish a definite causal relation between these effects and homeopathic treatment.

AB - BACKGROUND: Many cancer patients seek homeopathy as a complementary therapy. It has rarely been studied systematically, whether homeopathic care is of benefit for cancer patients.METHODS: We conducted a prospective observational study with cancer patients in two differently treated cohorts: one cohort with patients under complementary homeopathic treatment (HG; n = 259), and one cohort with conventionally treated cancer patients (CG; n = 380). For a direct comparison, matched pairs with patients of the same tumour entity and comparable prognosis were to be formed. Main outcome parameter: change of quality of life (FACT-G, FACIT-Sp) after 3 months. Secondary outcome parameters: change of quality of life (FACT-G, FACIT-Sp) after a year, as well as impairment by fatigue (MFI) and by anxiety and depression (HADS).RESULTS: HG: FACT-G, or FACIT-Sp, respectively improved statistically significantly in the first three months, from 75.6 (SD 14.6) to 81.1 (SD 16.9), or from 32.1 (SD 8.2) to 34.9 (SD 8.32), respectively. After 12 months, a further increase to 84.1 (SD 15.5) or 35.2 (SD 8.6) was found. Fatigue (MFI) decreased; anxiety and depression (HADS) did not change. CG: FACT-G remained constant in the first three months: 75.3 (SD 17.3) at t0, and 76.6 (SD 16.6) at t1. After 12 months, there was a slight increase to 78.9 (SD 18.1). FACIT-Sp scores improved significantly from t0 (31.0 - SD 8.9) to t1 (32.1 - SD 8.9) and declined again after a year (31.6 - SD 9.4). For fatigue, anxiety, and depression, no relevant changes were found. 120 patients of HG and 206 patients of CG met our criteria for matched-pairs selection. Due to large differences between the two patient populations, however, only 11 matched pairs could be formed. This is not sufficient for a comparative study.CONCLUSION: In our prospective study, we observed an improvement of quality of life as well as a tendency of fatigue symptoms to decrease in cancer patients under complementary homeopathic treatment. It would take considerably larger samples to find matched pairs suitable for comparison in order to establish a definite causal relation between these effects and homeopathic treatment.

KW - Anxiety/therapy

KW - Depression/therapy

KW - Fatigue/therapy

KW - Female

KW - Homeopathy/methods

KW - Humans

KW - Male

KW - Middle Aged

KW - Neoplasms/pathology

KW - Prospective Studies

KW - Quality of Life

KW - Surveys and Questionnaires

KW - Time Factors

KW - Treatment Outcome

U2 - 10.1186/1471-2407-11-19

DO - 10.1186/1471-2407-11-19

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 21241504

VL - 11

SP - 19

JO - BMC CANCER

JF - BMC CANCER

SN - 1471-2407

ER -