Manifesto of the European Committee for Homeopathy (ECH) and the European Federation of Homeopathic Patients Associations (EFHPA)

This ‘Manifesto of the European Committee for Homeopathy (ECH) and the European Federation of Homeopathic Patients Associations (EFHPA)‘ has just been published. It is worth considering in more detail, I think. So, I will first reproduce the document in its entirety and subsequently provide some critical assessment of it.

Homeopathy: a solution for major healthcare problems in the EU

• Helps to reduce the need of antibiotics in human and veterinary health care, thus reducing the problem of antimicrobial resistance [i]^,[ii]
• Increases quality of life and reduces severity of complaints in patients with chronic disease, when integrated in health care [iii]^,[iv]^,[v]^,[vi]^,[vii]^,[viii]
• Can reduce the use of long-term conventional prescription drugs, when integrated in health care [ix]

Homeopathy: safe and cost-effective with a high patient satisfaction

• Can lead to lower health care costs, when integrated in health care, [x]^,[xi]^,[xii]^,
• Is safe, with high patient satisfaction [xiii]^,[xiv]^,[xv]^,[xvi]
• Patients using homeopathy have better outcomes than users of conventional treatment, with similar costs [xvii]
• Quality, safety and correct labelling of homeopathic products is guaranteed by Directive 2001/83 EC

 EU consumers expect and demand homeopathy as part of their health care

• Reported as the most used medical complementary medicine in Europe [xviii]
• Three out of four European citizens know about homeopathy and out of them 29% use it for their day-to day health care [xix]

 Scientific evidence of the highest calibre confirms the clinical efficacy of homeopathic   medicine

• Clinical effects of homeopathic medicines have been confirmed by systematic reviews and meta- analyses [xx]^,[xxi]^,[xxii]^,[xxiii]^,[xxiv]^,[xxv]^,[xxvi]

There is convincing evidence for biological efficacy of homeopathic medicine

• Irrefutable scientific evidence has been published on the positive effects of homeopathic products in laboratory settings [xxvii]^,[xxviii]

References

[i] Grimaldi-Bensouda L, Bégaud B, Rossignol M, et al. Management of upper respiratory tract infections by different medical practices, including homeopathy, and consumption of antibiotics in primary care: the EPI3 cohort study in France 2007-2008. PLoS One. 2014 Mar 19;9(3):e89990

[ii] Camerlink I, Ellinger L, Bakker EJ, Lantinga EA. Homeopathy as replacement to antibiotics in the case of Escherichia coli diarrhoea in neonatal piglets. Homeopathy. 2010 Jan;99(1):57-62

[iii] Witt CM, Lüdtke R, Baur R, Willich SN. Homeopathic medical practice: long-term results of a cohort study with 3981 patients. BMC Public Health 2005; 5:115

[iv]  Spence DS, Thompson EA, Barron SJ. Homeopathic treatment for chronic disease: a 6-year, university-hospital outpatient observational study. J Altern Complement Med 2005; 11:793–798

[v] Mathie RT, Robinson TW. Outcomes from homeopathic prescribing in medical practice: a prospective, research-targeted, pilot study. Homeopathy 2006; 95:199–205

[vi] Thompson EA, Mathie RT, Baitson ES, et al. Towards standard setting for patient-reported outcomes in the NHS homeopathic hospitals. Homeopathy 2008; 97:114–121

[vii] Witt CM, Lüdtke R, Mengler N, Willich SN. How healthy are chronically ill patients after eight years of homeopathic treatment?–Results from a long term observational study BMC Public Health 2008;8:413

[viii] Rossi E, Endrizzi C, Panozzo MA, Bianchi A, Da Frè M. Homeopathy in the public health system: a seven-year observational study at Lucca Hospital (Italy). Homeopathy 2009; 98:142–148

[ix] Grimaldi-Bensouda L, Abenhaim L, Massol J, et al. EPI3-LA-SER group. Homeopathic medical practice for anxiety and depression in primary care: the EPI3 cohort study. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2016 May 4; 16:125

[x] Kooreman P, Baars EW. Patients whose GP knows complementary medicine tend to have lower costs and live longer. Eur J Health Econ. 2012 Dec;13(6):769-76

[xi] Baars EW, Kooreman P. A 6-year comparative economic evaluation of healthcare costs and mortality rates of Dutch patients from conventional and CAM GPs. BMJ Open. 2014 Aug 27;4(8):e005332

[xii] Colas A, Danno K, Tabar C, Ehreth J, Duru G. Economic impact of homeopathic practice in general medicine in France. Health Econ Rev. 2015;5(1):55

[xiii] Van Wassenhoven M, Galen Y. An observational study of patients receiving homeopathic treatment. Homeopathy 2004 Jan;93(1):3-11

[xiv] Marian F, Joost K, Saini KD, von Ammon K, Thurneysen A, Busato A. Patient satisfaction and side effects in primary care: An observational study comparing homeopathy and conventional medicine. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2008 Sep 18; 8:52

[xv] Witt C, Keil T, Selim D, et al. Outcome and costs of homoeopathic and conventional treatment strategies: a comparative cohort study in patients with chronic disorders. Complement Ther Med. 2005;13(2):79-86

[xvi] Marian F, Joost K, Saini KD, von Ammon K, Thurneysen A, Busato A. Patient satisfaction and side effects in primary care: An observational study comparing homeopathy and conventional medicine. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2008 Sep 18; 8:52

[xvii] Bornhöft G, Wolf U, von Ammon K, Righetti M, Maxion-Bergemann S, Baumgartner S, Thurneysen AE, Matthiessen PF. Effectiveness, safety and cost-effectiveness of homeopathy in general practice – summarized health technology assessment.Forsch Komplementmed. 2006;13 Suppl 2:19-29. Epub 2006 Jun 26. Review

[xviii] Eardley S, Bishop FL, Prescott P, Cardini F, Brinkhaus B, Santos K Ͳ Rey, Vas J, von Ammon K, Hegyi G, Dragan S, Uehleke B, Fønnebø V, Lewith G. CAM use in Europe. The patients’ perspective.Part I: A systematic literature review of CAM prevalence in the EU. 2012. Online retrieved 19-11-2019. https://cam-europe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/CAMbrella-WP4-part_1final.pdf

[xix] Report of the European Commission, 1997. Online retrieved 15-12-2019 via https://www.hri-research.org/resources/essentialevidence/use-of-homeopathy-across-the-world/

[xx] Linde K, Clausius N, Ramirez G, Melchart D, Eitel F, Hedges LV, Jonas WB. Are the clinical effects of homeopathy placebo effects? A meta-analysis of placebo-controlled trials. Lancet. 1997 Sep 20;350(9081):834-4.

[xxi] Cucherat M, Haugh MC, Gooch M, Boissel JP.Evidence of clinical efficacy of homeopathy. A meta-analysis of clinical trials. HMRAG. Homeopathic Medicines Research Advisory Group. Eur J Clin Pharmacol. 2000 Apr;56(1):27-33

[xxii] Hahn RG. Homeopathy: meta-analyses of pooled clinical data. Forsch Komplementmed. 2013;20(5):376-81

[xxiii] Mathie RT, Van Wassenhoven M, Jacobs J et al. Model validity and risk of bias in randomised placebo-controlled trials of individualised homeopathic treatment. Complement Ther Med. 2016 Apr; 25:120-5

[xxiv] Mathie RT, Lloyd, SM, Legg, LA, Clausen J, Moss S, Davidson JR, Ford: Randomised placebo-controlled trials of individualised homeopathic treatment: systematic review and meta-analysis. Syst Rev 2014 Dec 6; 3:142

[xxv] Mathie RT, Clausen J. Veterinary homeopathy: systematic review of medical conditions studied by randomised placebo-controlled trials. Vet Rec. 2014 Oct 18;175(15):373-81.

[xxvi] Mathie RT, Clausen J. Veterinary homeopathy: meta-analysis of randomised placebo-controlled trials. Homeopathy. 2015 Jan;104(1):3-8.

[xxvii] Tournier A, Klein SD, Würtenberger S, Wolf U, Baumgartner S. Physicochemical Investigations of Homeopathic Preparations: A Systematic Review and Bibliometric Analysis-Part 2. J Altern Complement Med. 2019 Jul 10

[xxviii] Witt CM, Bluth M, Albrecht H, Weisshuhn TE, Baumgartner S, Willich SN. The in vitro evidence for an effect of high homeopathic potencies–a systematic review of the literature. Complement. Ther Med. 2007 Jun;15(2):128-38

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Did I state above that the manifesto is worth considering in more detail? I need to retract or modify this statement.

Here are the considerations that are relevant, in my view:

• The statements in the manifesto are based on wishful thinking and do not reflect the reality based on the best evidence available today.
• The manifesto is the result of a mixture of cherry-picking and/or misinterpreting the evidence.
• Most of the cited studies have been discussed on this blog in previous posts which disclose their flaws and/or erroneous conclusions.

So, instead of discussing all the tedious details yet again, I will present here a corrected version of the manifesto:

Homeopathy: no solution for major healthcare problems in the EU

• Does not help to reduce the need of antibiotics in human and veterinary health care, thus reducing the problem of antimicrobial resistance
• does not increases quality of life and reduces severity of complaints in patients with chronic disease, when integrated in health care
• Cannot reduce the use of long-term conventional prescription drugs, when integrated in health care

Homeopathy: neither safe nor cost-effective with a high patient satisfaction

• Cannot lead to lower health care costs, when integrated in health care
• Is unsafe
• Patients using homeopathy have no better outcomes than users of conventional treatment, but cause higher costs
• Quality and correct labelling of homeopathic products is guaranteed by Directive 2001/83 EC

 Some EU consumers expect and demand homeopathy as part of their health care

• Reported as a much-used complementary medicine in Europe
• Three out of four European citizens know about homeopathy and out of them many use it for their day-to day health care

 Scientific evidence of the highest calibre fails to confirm the clinical efficacy of homeopathic   medicine

• Clinical effects of homeopathic medicines have been confirmed by systematic reviews and meta- analyses to be no better than placebo

There is no convincing evidence for biological efficacy of homeopathic medicine

• No irrefutable scientific evidence has been published on the positive effects of homeopathic products in laboratory settings