Copyright © 2007 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.
ORIGINAL PAPER
Expectations and effectiveness of medical treatment and classical homeopathic treatment for patients with hypersensitivity illnesses—One year prospective study
Laila Launsø1, 
1National Research Center in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NAFKAM), University of Tromsø, Norway
2Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Institute of Mathematics, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
3Centre in Bridge Building in Health Care, Teglgårdstræde 4, 1452 Copenhagen, Denmark
4Institute of Sociology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
5Danish Institute for Health Services Research, Dampfærgevej 27-29, P.O. Box 2595, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Received 13 November 2006; revised 16 July 2007; accepted 16 August 2007. Available online 22 October 2007.
Abstract
Objective
To describe and compare characteristics of adult patients who received treatment for hypersensitivity illnesses by general practitioners (GPs) and classical homeopaths (CHs) over a period of 1 year and examine the statistical predictors of self-reported treatment outcomes.
Material and methods
We conducted a survey on 151 Danish adult patients with hypersensitivity illnesses, who chose treatment from one of 13 GPs or one of 10 CHs who participated in the project. The treatments were given as individual packages in the naturalistic clinical setting. Patients completed questionnaires at start of treatment, after 6 months and a year after start of treatment. Response rates for the first, second and third questionnaire were respectively 68%, 98%, 95% for the GP patients and 82%, 98%, 94% for the CH patients.
Results
Patients seeking CH treatment in this study are significantly different in gender and education from patients seeking GP treatment. We did not find significant differences in terms of occupational training, occupation, sickness absence due to hypersensitivity illnesses, diseases other than hypersensitivity illnesses, symptoms severity due to hypersensitivity illnesses before treatment and expectation of the ability of the treatment to alleviate symptoms.
Eighty-eight percent of GP and 21% of CH patients were continuing treatment after 1 year. Regression analysis showed that the only significant independent variables to explain the probability of obtaining very positive effect or cure for GPs and CHs were that the patients were in 'maintenance treatment', and had high expectation before treatment of the ability of the treatment to relieve their symptoms.
Conclusion
In this study self-reported very positive effect of GP treatment and very positive effect and cure of CH treatment are associated with the patients' high expectation of the treatment and continuation of maintenance treatment.
Keywords: prospective study; user-evaluation study; outcome assessment; health care; cure
Correspondence: Laila Launsø, The National Research Center in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NAFKAM), University of Tromsø, 9037 Tromsø, Norway. 
