Homeopathic Treatment of Atopic Diseases: Short- and Long-Term Results in a Cohort of 563 Atopic Adult Patients

Background: Atopic diseases are the most common chronic conditions in childhood but, in recent decades, asthma and allergy have reached epidemic proportions among adults in most Western societies.

Aims: To study the effect of homeopathic treatment on adult patients with atopic diseases who visited the Homeopathic Clinic of Lucca (Italy) and long-term evolution of the disease over approximately an 8-year period.

Materials and Methods: Data derive from an observational longitudinal study carried out on 563 atopic adult patients who consecutively visited from 1998 to 2017: 202 (35.9%) suffered from atopic dermatitis, 204 (36.2%) from allergic rhinitis, and 157 (27.9%) from asthma. Moreover, a long-term study was conducted on a subset of 45/104 adult patients with ≥5 years follow-up, who consecutively visited from 2006 to 2012. The study also investigated the evolution of overall symptoms in patients with a complex atopic symptomatology: that is, patients suffering with more than one atopic disease.

The outcomes were evaluated according to ORIDL (Outcome in Relation to Impact on Daily Living). Statistical evaluation was conducted via Wilcoxon’s test applied to matched-pair samples, associated with a two-tailed significance test. The most frequently prescribed remedies were: in asthma, Nat-s and Ars; in allergic rhinitis, Puls and Ars-i; in atopic dermatitis, Sulph and Nat-s.

Results: 69.3% of atopic adults had moderate or major improvement (71.1% with asthma as the primary disease; 69.8% rhinitis; 67.1% dermatitis). At re-evaluation after 5–12 years, complete remission of atopic symptoms was observed in 69.6% of adult patients: dermatitis, 100%; allergic rhinitis, 59.2%; asthma, 75% (p < 0.001). Adult patients with more than one atopic disease at the first visit were completely cured in 54.3% of cases.

Conclusion: The results seem to confirm that homeopathic medicine produces positive therapeutic responses in atopic adults, and not only in paediatric atopic patients.

Keywords: Homeopathy, atopic diseases, asthma, allergic rhinitis, dermatitis, short- and long-term results