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Clinical Rheumatology
Published in: Clinical Rheumatology 5/2010

01-05-2010 | Review Article

A systematic review of homoeopathy for the treatment of fibromyalgia

Authors: Rachel Perry, Rohini Terry, Edzard Ernst

Published in: Clinical Rheumatology | Issue 5/2010

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Abstract

Homoeopathy is often advocated for fibromyalgia (FM) and many FM patients use it. To critically evaluate all randomised clinical trials (RCTs) of homoeopathy as a treatment for FM, six electronic databases were searched to identify all relevant studies. Data extraction and the assessment of the methodological quality of all included studies were done by two independent reviewers. Four RCTs were found, including two feasibility studies. Three studies were placebo-controlled. None of the trials was without serious flaws. Invariably, their results suggested that homoeopathy was better than the control interventions in alleviating the symptoms of FM. Independent replications are missing. Even though all RCTs suggested results that favour homoeopathy, important caveats exist. Therefore, the effectiveness of homoeopathy as a symptomatic treatment for FM remains unproven.
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Metadata
Title
A systematic review of homoeopathy for the treatment of fibromyalgia
Authors
Rachel Perry
Rohini Terry
Edzard Ernst
Publication date
01-05-2010
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Published in
Clinical Rheumatology / Issue 5/2010
Print ISSN: 0770-3198
Electronic ISSN: 1434-9949
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-009-1361-2

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