| Homeopathic research |
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The
medico-economic evaluation
of homeopathy :
which therapeutic effects for what cost? |
Our care system must currently better understand the impact of a medicine on public health, its therapeutic interest, but also its cost. This must currently be evaluated and homeopathy is each day increasingly part of a medical and pharmacoepidemiological research process which meets these requirements.
The therapeutic and economic interest put to the test
Experts who give their opinion on the reimbursement of a medicine must evaluate it in relation to other reimbursable medicines already present on the market. They must judge its efficacy, its tolerance, its ease of use, its impact on public health but also its economic interest
. For example, a medicine just as effective but better tolerated is an economical source for the Health Insurance, because it incurs less costs associated to the treatment of its side-effects.
It is therefore necessary to rigorously collate epidemiological data and medical practice as well as economical information, in order to evaluate the supplying of homeopathic medicines to the care system and public health.
Currently, several research teams
are developing the medical and pharmacoepidemiological evaluation of homeopathic medicines, in particular by comparing them to other medicines.
L’Homeopathy, an economical alternative for the Health insurance
Homeopathy is economical for our care system :
• · The average price of reimbursable homeopathic medicines is more than 4 times lower
than that of other reimbursable medicines (source: GERS).
• · Overall, the annual costs reimbursed for homeopathic medicines (fees, prescriptions and days off work) are 2 times lower
than those of other general practitioners (sources: SNIR, CNAMTS).
• · 88% of patients treated by a homeopathic doctor do not consult other doctors for the same disease (source: IPSOS 04/2002 study).
Rhinopharyngitis in children, anxiety and bronchiolitis in infants: the first convincing comparisons
The first research work involved repetitive childhood nasopharyngitis and anxiety, two illnesses which affect many patients and which are expensive for the Health insurance.
This work was conducted and validated by independent experts, then published in review committees' journals.
Paying for anxiety
A study including 320 patients suffering from anxiety compared the therapeutic effect and the cost of homeopathic medicines to psychotropic medicines25 . They revealed equivalent efficacy, but
the homeopathic treatment was less expensive
for the Health insurance. Homeopathy could thus respond to the economic and public health problems, associated to the overconsumption of psychotropics and to the dependence that the latter may cause.
Paying for reoccurring childhood nasopharyngitis
Another study of this type was conducted on 431 young children suffering from reoccurring acute nasopharyngitis26. This time, homeopathy proved to be more advantageous
than allopathy in terms of medical efficacy, quality of life and cost supported by the Health insurance. Homeopathy can thus offer an
effective alternative at a lower cost to the overconsumption of antibiotics,,
expensive and a source of worrying bacterial resistance phenomena.
Treating bronchiolitis in infants
A study27 conducted on 520 infants compared the therapeutic strategies of 192 doctors, paediatrician specialists, “allopathic” general practitioners and “homeopathic” general practitioners. This study showed that episodes of bronchiolitis in infants are shorter and the complications less frequent in patients treated by homeopathic general practitioners. The “homeopathic” treatment is also the least expensive of the 3 strategies.
The first results of the medical and pharmacoepemiological studies on the pragmatic efficacy of homeopathic medical practice are overall positive and can offer real solutions to certain public health problems and budget problems for the Health insurance .Other studies on different pathologies must now be carried out.
être conduites.
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