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Homeopathy 2009; 98(01): 71
DOI: 10.1016/j.homp.2008.11.001
Letter to the editor
Copyright © The Faculty of Homeopathy 2008

Response to Leslie Rose

Clare Relton
,
Kate J. Thomas
,
Alicia O'Cathain
Subject Editor:
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Publication History

Publication Date:
29 December 2017 (online)

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Dear Sir,

We thank Rose for his interest in our paper and agree with him that it is the ‘mission of science and of scientists to bring clarity to that which was unclear’. However, Rose is mistaken in stating that we are ‘refusing to allow the analysis of homeopathy as a practice’.[ 1 ] There are different ways of delivering homeopathy – homeopathic medicine alone or treatment by a homeopath and distinction must be made between these in research to reflect practice.

An additional point is that there are universally applicable measures of effectiveness (e.g. EQ 5D[ 2 ]) that are recognised by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the international research community that can (and have been) successfully applied to trials of the practice of homeopathy – treatment by a homeopath.[ 3 ]

 

  • References

  • 1 Relton C., O'Cathain A., Thomas K.J. ‘Homeopathy’: untangling the debate. Homeopathy 2008; 97: 152-155.
    Article in Thieme ConnectPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 2 Rabin R., de Charro F. EQ-5D: a measure of health status from the EuroQol Group. Ann Med 2001; 33 (05) 337-343.
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 3 Relton C, Smith C, Raw J. et al. ‘Healthcare provided by a homeopath as an adjunct to usual care for Fibromyalgia (FMS): Results of a pilot RCT’, in press.
    PubMed