title: Measuring the effectiveness of homeopathic care through objective and shared indicators.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test a methodology to evaluate, at population level, the effectiveness of homeopathic treatment through standard objective public health indicators.
  
  
  METHODS
  Indicators of hospitalization and drug use were obtained from the Health Statistical Documentation System of Tuscany for two homeopathic centers in the Local Health Authority of Pisa, Italy. We compared homeopathic users with the general population in the same area and by comparing patients before and after homeopathic treatment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The homeopathic patients used less drugs than the reference population, this effect was more evident for patients with repeated homeopathic consultations. A significant decrease in drug use was found on comparing the same patients before and after homeopathic treatment. Hospitalization indicators tended to favour patients who had received homeopathic treatment but were not always statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This paper demonstrates a new methodological approach to assess the effectiveness of a therapeutic modality, without ad-hoc clinical trials. This methodology can be used by public health institutions in which non-conventional medicines are integrated into the public health care system.
authors.affiliation: Scuola Superiore di Studi Universitari e Perfezionamento Sant'Anna di Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Leone
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marchitiello
authors.forename: Michela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Natilli
authors.forename: Maria Francesca
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Romano
mesh_terms: D006705:Homeopathy / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011634:Public Health / Q000639:trends*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013223:Statistics as Topic