Homeopathy for eczema, though popular, has no scientific evidence backing it up, finds a systematic review of clinical trials.
Only three controlled clinical trials were found despite an extensive literature search, and these were all ‘methodologically weak,’ the study in the British Journal of Dermatology reported.
Two studies were not randomised and could be subject to selection bias, and the third trial was based on 24 patients, of whom only 14 completed the study, wrote author Edzard Ernst, Professor of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter, UK.
Taken at face value, the two non-randomised studies suggested that homeopathic treatment was equivalent to conventional treatment, and the randomised study found placebo did slightly better than homeopathy.
“The available trial data do not demonstrate homeopathic remedies to be efficacious as a treatment of eczema,” Professor Ernst concluded.
British J of Derm, 2012: doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2133.2012.10994.x
Homeopathy for eczema, though popular, has no scientific evidence backing it up, finds a systematic review of clinical trials.
Only three controlled clinical trials were found despite an extensive literature search, and these were all ‘methodologically weak,’ the study in the British Journal of Dermatology reported.
Two studies were not randomised and could be subject to selection bias, and the third trial was based on 24 patients, of whom only 14 completed the study, wrote author Edzard Ernst, Professor of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter, UK.
Taken at face value, the two non-randomised studies suggested that homeopathic treatment was equivalent to conventional treatment, and the randomised study found placebo did slightly better than homeopathy.
“The available trial data do not demonstrate...
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