Individualized homeopathic treatment in addition to conventional treatment in type II diabetic patients in Hong Kong – a retrospective cohort study

Abstract

Objective: Glycaemic goals are not achieved in most patients with type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM), especially in those with long disease duration and taking multiple oral antidiabetic drugs (OAD). We aimed to investigate the effectiveness of individualized homeopathic treatment in glycaemic control. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: At least 6 months of individualized homeopathic treatment at a private homeopathic centre in Hong Kong. Participants: Twenty-seven adults aged 37–84 years were treated with individualized homeopathic remedies between 2012 and 2015. Published data on 40 T2DM patients under standard conventional treatment in Hong Kong were used as a control. Main outcome measure: Change in fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) at 12-month or the last follow-up, whichever is earlier. Results: Compared with the conventional treatment only group, the homeopathy group had higher baseline FPG ( p = 0.044), and more patients had a long (>20 years) duration of diabetes ( p = 0.006), and a history of cardiac events ( p = 0.022). The mean difference in FPG in the homeopathy group was significantly greater than in the control after 12 months: −2.24 mmol/L (95% confidence interval [CI]: −3.47 to −1.01) vs 0.16 mmol/L (95% CI: −1.72 to 2.04), p = 0.001. The mean difference in glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) was also significantly greater, −1.11% (95% CI: −2.17 to −0.05) vs 0.08% (95% CI: −1.37 to 1.53), p = 0.046. Poorer baseline glycaemic control was associated with better outcome (r = −0.750, p < 0.001), but not the duration of diabetes (r = 0.058, p = 0.772). The improvement was robust to sensitivity analyses. Conclusion: Individualized homeopathic treatment was associated with better glycaemic control compared with standard conventional treatment alone.