PDF herunterladen
Homœopathic Links 2020; 33(01): 024-032
DOI: 10.1055/s-0040-1701660
Philosophy and Discussion
Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Private Ltd.

Homeopathy Deserves Its Own Scientific Identity

Lex Rutten 
1   Homeopathic Physician, Independent Researcher, Breda, The Netherlands
› Institutsangaben
Weitere Informationen

Publikationsverlauf

Publikationsdatum:
09. April 2020 (online)

    Lizenzen und Reprints

Abstract

Scientific research, especially the randomised controlled trial, was once expected to provide recognition to homeopathy. However, the opposite happened: despite evidence that is not inferior to conventional evidence, the opposition has never been stronger. The philosopher Kuhn predicted this: scientific authorities cannot accept information that is contrary to their basic beliefs (paradigm) because their authority depends on that very paradigm. On the other hand, many patients discover that the conventional medical paradigm is incomplete and that homeopathy complements it. The problems with the present paradigm are expected to grow, especially with antimicrobial resistance[1] with respect to respiratory tract infections. Homeopathy can be of great value in this respect. There is also growing awareness that there is no dichotomy between effective and not-effective medicines. The effect of a medicine is a probability depending or several variables. So far improving the homeopathic method with scientific research has been neglected. The increasing interest of conventional medicine in personalised medicine and prognostic factor research (PFR) is an excellent opportunity to redirect homeopathy research towards PFR.

Keywords

Paradigm - Kuhn - Bayes' theorem - prognostic factor research - homeopathy

Kommentar zu diesem Artikel:

Homeopathy Deserves Its Own Scientific IdentityHomœopathic Links 2021; 34(S 01): 005-013
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1731845

 

  • References

  • 1 Kleijnen J, Knipschild P, ter Riet G. Clinical trials of homoeopathy. BMJ 1991; 302 (6772): 316-323
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 2 Vandenbroucke JP. 175th anniversary lecture. Medical journals and the shaping of medical knowledge. Lancet 1998; 352 (9145): 2001-2006
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 3 Hahn RG. Homeopathy: meta-analyses of pooled clinical data. Forsch Komplement Med 2013; 20 (05) 376-381
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 4 Shang A, Huwiler-Müntener K, Nartey L. , et al. Are the clinical effects of homoeopathy placebo effects? Comparative study of placebo-controlled trials of homoeopathy and allopathy. Lancet 2005; 366 (9487): 726-732
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 5 Lüdtke R, Rutten AL. The conclusions on the effectiveness of homeopathy highly depend on the set of analyzed trials. J Clin Epidemiol 2008; 61 (12) 1197-1204
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 6 Gill CJ, Sabin L, Schmid CH. Why clinicians are natural Bayesians. BMJ 2005; 330 (7499): 1080-1083
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 7 Kuhn TS. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 2nd ed. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press; 1970
    Google Scholar
  • 8 Hudgins JD, Porter JJ, Monuteaux MC, Bourgeois FT. Prescription opioid use and misuse among adolescents and young adults in the United States: a national survey study. PLoS Med 2019; 16 (11) e1002922
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 9 Gaskell H, Derry S, Stannard C, Moore RA. Oxycodone for neuropathic pain in adults. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2016; 7 (07) CD010692
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 10 O'Neill J. Tackling drug-resistant infections globally: Final report and recommendations.. ‘The review on antimicrobial resistance’. May 2016
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 11 Alves Galvão MG, Rocha Crispino Santos MA, Alves da Cunha AJ. Antibiotics for preventing suppurative complications from undifferentiated acute respiratory infections in children under five years of age. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2016; 2 (02) CD007880
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 12 Petersen I, Johnson AM, Islam A, Duckworth G, Livermore DM, Hayward AC. Protective effect of antibiotics against serious complications of common respiratory tract infections: retrospective cohort study with the UK General Practice Research Database. BMJ 2007; 335 (7627): 982
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 13 El Dib RP, Atallah ÁN, Andriolo RB. Mapping the Cochrane evidence for decision making in health care. J Eval Clin Pract 2007; 13 (04) 689-692
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 14 Güthlin C, Lange O, Walach H. Measuring the effects of acupuncture and homoeopathy in general practice: an uncontrolled prospective documentation approach. BMC Public Health 2004; 4: 6 . Doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-4-6
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 15 Bezáková N, Damoiseaux RAMJ, Hoes AW, Schilder AGM, Rovers MM. Recurrence up to 3.5 years after antibiotic treatment of acute otitis media in very young Dutch children: survey of trial participants. BMJ 2009; 338: b2525 . Doi: 10.1136/bmj.b2525
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 16 NHMRC; NHMRC Information Paper. Evidence on the Effectiveness of Homeopathy for Treating Health Conditions. Canberra: National Health and Medical Research Council; 2015
    Google Scholar
  • 17 Hawke K, van Driel ML, Buffington BJ, McGuire TM, King D. Homeopathic medicinal products for preventing and treating acute respiratory tract infections in children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2018; 4 (04) CD005974 . Doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD005974.pub4
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 18 Djulbegovic B, Guyatt GH. Progress in evidence-based medicine: a quarter century on. Lancet 2017; 390 (10092): 415-423
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 19 Rutten LALB. Proving non-conventional methods: a paradigmatic paradox. Indian J Res Homoeopath 2019; 13 (03) 192-203
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 20 Greenhalgh T, Howick J, Maskrey N. ; Evidence Based Medicine Renaissance Group. Evidence based medicine: a movement in crisis?. BMJ 2014; 348: g3725 . Doi: 10.1136/bmj.g3725
    Google Scholar
  • 21 Alderson P. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. BMJ 2004; 328 (7438): 476-477
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 22 Popper K. The Logic of Scientific Discovery. New York: Basic Books; 1959
    Google Scholar
  • 23 Rutten LALB. Homeopathy instead of antibiotics in respiratory tract infections: certainly less harmful, possibly more effective. La Revue d'Homeopathie 2019; 10 (04) e47-e52
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 24 Ioannidis JPA. Why most published research findings are false. PLoS Med 2005; 2 (08) e124
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 25 Rutten LALB. Flawed statistics and science confirming existing paradigms. J Eval Clin Pract 2018; 24 (05) 1273-1276
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 26 de Lange de Klerk ESM, Blommers J, Kuik DJ, Bezemer PD, Feenstra L. Effect of homoeopathic medicines on daily burden of symptoms in children with recurrent upper respiratory tract infections. BMJ 1994; 309 (6965): 1329-1332
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 27 Stolper E, Rutten L, Lugten R, Barthels R. Materia medica validation and meta-analysis. Homeopath Links 2004; 3: 186-192
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 28 Kahneman D. Thinking, Fast and Slow. London: Penguin books; 2011
    Google Scholar
  • 29 Hemingway H, Croft P, Perel P. , et al; PROGRESS Group. Prognosis research strategy (PROGRESS) 1: a framework for researching clinical outcomes. BMJ 2013; 346: e5595 . Doi: 10.1136/bmj.e5595
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 30 Dinant G-JGJ, Buntinx FF, Butler CCC. The necessary shift from diagnostic to prognostic research. BMC Fam Pract 2007; 8: 53 . Doi: 10.1186/1471-2296-8-53
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar