title: Outcome and costs of homoeopathic and conventional treatment strategies: a comparative cohort study in patients with chronic disorders.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the effectiveness of homoeopathy versus conventional treatment in routine care.
  
  
  METHODS
  Comparative cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with selected chronic diagnoses were enrolled in medical practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  Conventional treatment or homeopathy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Severity of symptoms assessed by patients and physicians (visual rating scale, 0-10) at baseline, 6 and 12 months and costs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The analyses of 493 patients (315 adults, 178 children) indicated greater improvement in patients' assessments after homoeopathic versus conventional treatment (adults: homeopathy from 5.7 to 3.2; conventional, 5.9-4.4; p=0.002; children from 5.1 to 2.6 and from 4.5 to 3.2). Physician assessments were also more favourable for children who had received homoeopathic treatment (4.6-2.0 and 3.9-2.7; p<0.001). Overall costs showed no significant differences between both treatment groups (adults, 2155 versus 2013, p=0.856; children, 1471 versus 786, p=0.137).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients seeking homoeopathic treatment had a better outcome overall compared with patients on conventional treatment, whereas total costs in both groups were similar.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics, Charité University Medical Center, 10098 Berlin, Germany. claudia.witt@charite.de
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Witt
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Keil
authors.forename: Dagmar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Selim
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Roll
authors.forename: Will
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Vance
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wegscheider
authors.forename: Stefan N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Willich
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000145:classification / Q000191:economics / Q000628:therapy*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006705:Homeopathy / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000191:economics*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome