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Assessment of Outcomes from the Use of Homeopathy and Acupuncture in General Practice

Principal Investigators: K. Kirschmann, Dipl. Psych.; H. Walach, PhD

Affiliations: University Hospital Freiburg, Department of Environmental Medicine and Hospital Epidemiology

Background: Homeopathy and acupuncture are widely used complementary therapies: however, little is known about the costs and effects of homeopathy and acupuncture as it is applied in general clinical practice.

Objective of the study: The aim of this project is to measure the costs and effectiveness of homeopathy and acupuncture being applied in general practice.

Methods and Design: This study is a 5-year, prospective outcomes documentation project of patients insured with the BKK POST, BKK BVM and BIG (German health insurance companies) who are provided with free treatment of acupuncture and homeopathy in 1000 clinics in Germany. Doctors document their treatment (diagnosis, treatment, duration of treatment) with pre-established documentation forms. Patients suffering from atopic dermatitis, asthma, allergic rhinitis, backache, headache and migraine (up to 300 subjects per diagnostic group) are enrolled and provide information about their quality of life via generic and specific questionnaires (see below) at the beginning of the treatment, after six months and at the end of treatment. Primary outcomes for effectiveness are total work days lost, total hospital days, costs of rehabilitation and costs of the treatment for all patients. Costs are evaluated by the average cost of patients’ pre- and post treatment with acupuncture or homeopathy. Since May 2002, we have been evaluating homeopathically treated patients only, because the political situation does not allow a continuation of the acupuncture documentation.  Quality of Life is measured with general health status (EuroQol and SF-12) and appropriate German versions for specific health status: atopic dermatitis with FLQ-d Version 1.3 b (Quality of Life in Atopic Dermatis), allergic rhinitis with LQ-AR (Quality of Life in Allergic Rhinitis), asthma with FAP (Questionnaire on Asthma Problems), backache with FFbH (Hannover Functions Questionnaire for Backacke) and headache/migraine with MSQ Version 2.1 (Migraine Symptom Questionnaire).

Results: First results are expected by December 2002.