EXETER, UK—Homeopathy has been used in children with asthma despite a lack of convincing proof of its efficacy. To investigate the effectiveness of this form of therapy, Adrian White, MD, and colleagues conducted a multicenter trial of homeopathy as an adjunct to conventional therapy in children with mild to moderate asthma.[1]

Adjunctive homeopathy failed to outperform placebo in these children. “Specifically, homeopathy did not produce statistically or clinically significant changes in our primary outcome measure, active quality of life, after one year of follow-up,” explained Dr. White, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Complementary Medicine at the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, UK.

After one year, there were also no differences between the homeopathy and placebo groups in peak expiratory flow, medication use, asthma symptom scores, number of missed school days, or parental assessments of changes in asthma severity. Homeopathy did reduce asthma severity scores obtained from questionnaires that the children completed, but the observed declines in those scores were small and did not appear to be clinically important.

HOMEOPATHS WERE EXPERIENCED

In the trial, 93 children ages 5 to 15 were randomized to receive either homeopathic treatment or placebo in double-blind fashion. The children were identified from practice records showing that they had received a diagnosis of asthma and a prescription for a ß-agonist and/or corticosteroid inhaler within the past three months. All of the children were treated by both homeopaths and general practitioners.

For each child, individualized treatment was provided by one of three homeopaths who had each been in practice for at least 10 years. These practitioners had no medical training but met the membership criteria of the British Society of Homeopaths. The study protocol allowed them to practice in their usual way; for example, they were free to combine homeopathic prescriptions with lifestyle suggestions and other advice.

The children were allowed to receive as many as six sessions with the homeopaths during follow-up, with further phone consultations as needed. Any prescriptions for remedies were sent to a homeopathic pharmacist in London; the children assigned to homeopathy were given genuine homeopathic preparations, and the others were given a placebo. All children also received conventional medical treatment from the general practitioners. The children underwent an average of 5.5 homeopathy sessions. Conventional asthma therapy included inhaled ß-agonists in all cases; a few children used sodium cromoglycate or salbutamol.

Although homeopathy proved to be no more effective than placebo, it was also found to be no more harmful. There were no differences between the two groups in the incidence of headache, fever, exacerbation of asthma or eczema, or other adverse events.

Based on the trial findings, no further study of homeopathy for mild to moderate childhood asthma is needed, Dr. White said. “It is clearly no better than placebo for those types of asthma,” he asserted. “The question that remains is whether it would be effective in children with severe asthma.”

—Timothy Begany