en:misc:talk-saine-novella-question01
Differences
This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.
| Both sides previous revision Previous revision Next revision | Previous revision | ||
|
en:misc:talk-saine-novella-question01 [2013/06/05 14:34] legatum |
en:misc:talk-saine-novella-question01 [2013/09/16 09:17] (current) 62.65.168.3 |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| ====== Novella-Saine Post-Debate Q & A ====== | ====== Novella-Saine Post-Debate Q & A ====== | ||
| + | Answered question from the [[en:misc:talk-saine-novella|Debate on Homeopathy]]. | ||
| **1- What do you consider to be the best clinical evidence supporting the efficacy of homeopathy for any indication? (March 28, 2013)** | **1- What do you consider to be the best clinical evidence supporting the efficacy of homeopathy for any indication? (March 28, 2013)** | ||
| Line 160: | Line 161: | ||
| As this self-satisfactory level of evidence may not be satisfactory to everyone, I will now move closer to the central idea of your question. | As this self-satisfactory level of evidence may not be satisfactory to everyone, I will now move closer to the central idea of your question. | ||
| + | |||
| + | {{anchor:homeopathy_clinical_evidence}} | ||
| ===== What is the Best Clinical Evidence for Homeopathy? ===== | ===== What is the Best Clinical Evidence for Homeopathy? ===== | ||
| Line 432: | Line 435: | ||
| The main finding of this research is that results obtained by homeopathy during epidemics reveal a very important and clear constancy, //which is a very low mortality rate//. This constancy remains, regardless of the physician, time, place or type of epidemical disease, including diseases carrying a very high mortality rate, such as cholera, smallpox, diphtheria, typhoid fever, yellow fever and pneumonia. | The main finding of this research is that results obtained by homeopathy during epidemics reveal a very important and clear constancy, //which is a very low mortality rate//. This constancy remains, regardless of the physician, time, place or type of epidemical disease, including diseases carrying a very high mortality rate, such as cholera, smallpox, diphtheria, typhoid fever, yellow fever and pneumonia. | ||
| - | Since society values the savingn of life more highly than any other outcome, most of these reports give accounts of rates of recovery versus mortality, and should therefore warrant great attention from academia, governments and health authorities, and be followed with strong recommendations. [(Gordon H. Guyatt, et al. Rating quality of evidence and strength of recommendations: GRADE: an emerging consensus on rating quality of evidence and strength of recommendations. //British Medical Journal// 2008; 336 (7650): 924-926.)] | + | Since society values the saving of life more highly than any other outcome, most of these reports give accounts of rates of recovery versus mortality, and should therefore warrant great attention from academia, governments and health authorities, and be followed with strong recommendations. [(Gordon H. Guyatt, et al. Rating quality of evidence and strength of recommendations: GRADE: an emerging consensus on rating quality of evidence and strength of recommendations. //British Medical Journal// 2008; 336 (7650): 924-926.)] |
| - | Hierarchies of evidence of EBM have not been developed with the perspective of integrating such massive amounts of evidence, as the allopathic literature prior to WWII is relatively poor in valuable therapeutic interventions. Aside from a small number of trials, such as the ones of Lind’s with citrus in sailors with scurvy (1747), and Louis’ with bleeding and expectancy in patients with pneumonia (1828), there are not many astounding //therapeutic// trials that are worth recounting, or whose therapeutic interventions would have any clinical significance today. However, //this is not at all the case with homeopathy//, whose literature overflows with all types of very meaningful case studies, trials and outcome reports that remain as pertinent today as when there were first published. Results obtained by homeopathy don’t really lose any of their value with the passing of time, and are like all facts as relevant as if they had occurred today. | + | Hierarchies of evidence of EBM have not been developed with the perspective of integrating such massive amounts of evidence, as the allopathic literature prior to WWII is relatively poor in valuable therapeutic interventions. Aside from a small number of trials, such as the ones of Lind’s with citrus in sailors with scurvy (1747), and Louis’ with bleeding and expectancy in patients with pneumonia (1828), there are not many astounding //therapeutic// trials that are worth recounting, or whose therapeutic interventions would have any clinical significance today. However, //this is not at all the case with homeopathy//, whose literature overflows with all types of very meaningful case studies, trials and outcome reports that remain as pertinent today as when they were first published. Results obtained by homeopathy don’t really lose any of their value with the passing of time, and are like all facts as relevant as if they had occurred today. |
| Also, in the hierarchies of EBM, expert opinion tends to be the least valued. This is understandable, as expert opinion, with rare exceptions (//e.g.//, incurability of rabid persons (except outside homeopathy)), tends to greatly change from one expert to another, and from one era to another. No one will contest this to be true within conventional medicine, but it is actually not at all the case in homeopathy, as Hahnemann had so well explained the perennial relevance of the principles and practice of homeopathy, “Homeopathy is a perfectly simple system of medicine, remaining always fixed in its principles as in its practice.” | Also, in the hierarchies of EBM, expert opinion tends to be the least valued. This is understandable, as expert opinion, with rare exceptions (//e.g.//, incurability of rabid persons (except outside homeopathy)), tends to greatly change from one expert to another, and from one era to another. No one will contest this to be true within conventional medicine, but it is actually not at all the case in homeopathy, as Hahnemann had so well explained the perennial relevance of the principles and practice of homeopathy, “Homeopathy is a perfectly simple system of medicine, remaining always fixed in its principles as in its practice.” | ||
| Line 445: | Line 448: | ||
| Incidentally, it is a strange fact how detractors of homeopathy rely so much on expert opinion when they recognize it to be the least valuable level of evidence. From earlier time until now, professed experts on homeopathy, whom skeptics have relied on, have been found to be shams and/or the evidence they advanced against homeopathy have been shown to be flawed, like we have seen above with the French Academy of Medicine, Holmes, Shang et al., the //Lancet// editors, Edzard Ernst, etc. | Incidentally, it is a strange fact how detractors of homeopathy rely so much on expert opinion when they recognize it to be the least valuable level of evidence. From earlier time until now, professed experts on homeopathy, whom skeptics have relied on, have been found to be shams and/or the evidence they advanced against homeopathy have been shown to be flawed, like we have seen above with the French Academy of Medicine, Holmes, Shang et al., the //Lancet// editors, Edzard Ernst, etc. | ||
| + | |||
| + | {{anchor:homeopathy_statistics}} | ||
| ===== Statistical Analysis of the Epidemiological Evidence ===== | ===== Statistical Analysis of the Epidemiological Evidence ===== | ||
| Line 458: | Line 463: | ||
| First, we find that among 146,237 patients under PAA there were 35,698 reported deaths for an average mortality rate of 24.4%.[(Willis A. Dewey. Editorials. Pneumonia and its treatment. //Medical Century// 1912; 19: 250-253.)] [(Henri de Bonneval. //Considérations sur l’homoeopathie.// (Bordeaux: Imprimerie Adrien Bousin, 1881), 19-22.)] [(Krüger-Hansen. Ueber das Heilverfahren bei Pneumonien. //Medicinischer Argos// 1842; 4: 341-361.)] [(J. Greenwood, R. H. Candy. The fatality of fractures of the lower extremity and of lobar pneumonia of hospital mortality rates, 1751-1901. //Journal of the Royal Statistical Society// 1911; 74: 363-405.)] [(William Osler. The mortality of pneumonia. //University Medical Magazine// 1888; 1: 77-82.)] [(Samuel Henry Dickson. //Essay on Pneumonia.// In //Studies in Pathology and Therapeutics//. New York: William Hood & Co., 1867.)] [(O. Sturges, S. Coupland. //The Natural History and Relations of Pneumonia//. 2<sup>nd</sup> edition. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1890.)] [(William Osler. //The Principles and Practice of Medicine.// 8th ed. New York and London: D. Appleton and Company, 1912.)] [(Russell L Cecil, Horace S. Baldwin, Nils P. Larsen. Lobar pneumonia: A clinical and bacteriological study of two thousands typed cases. //Archives of Internal Medicine// 1927; 40: 253-280.)] | First, we find that among 146,237 patients under PAA there were 35,698 reported deaths for an average mortality rate of 24.4%.[(Willis A. Dewey. Editorials. Pneumonia and its treatment. //Medical Century// 1912; 19: 250-253.)] [(Henri de Bonneval. //Considérations sur l’homoeopathie.// (Bordeaux: Imprimerie Adrien Bousin, 1881), 19-22.)] [(Krüger-Hansen. Ueber das Heilverfahren bei Pneumonien. //Medicinischer Argos// 1842; 4: 341-361.)] [(J. Greenwood, R. H. Candy. The fatality of fractures of the lower extremity and of lobar pneumonia of hospital mortality rates, 1751-1901. //Journal of the Royal Statistical Society// 1911; 74: 363-405.)] [(William Osler. The mortality of pneumonia. //University Medical Magazine// 1888; 1: 77-82.)] [(Samuel Henry Dickson. //Essay on Pneumonia.// In //Studies in Pathology and Therapeutics//. New York: William Hood & Co., 1867.)] [(O. Sturges, S. Coupland. //The Natural History and Relations of Pneumonia//. 2<sup>nd</sup> edition. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1890.)] [(William Osler. //The Principles and Practice of Medicine.// 8th ed. New York and London: D. Appleton and Company, 1912.)] [(Russell L Cecil, Horace S. Baldwin, Nils P. Larsen. Lobar pneumonia: A clinical and bacteriological study of two thousands typed cases. //Archives of Internal Medicine// 1927; 40: 253-280.)] | ||
| - | | **Allopathic Treatment** | Cases | **Deaths** | **Mortality (percent)** | | + | | **Allopathic Treatment** | **Cases** | **Deaths** | **Mortality (percent)** | |
| | Dr. Brouillard, Paris[(#72)] | 152 | 18 | 11.8 | | | Dr. Brouillard, Paris[(#72)] | 152 | 18 | 11.8 | | ||
| | Dr. Louis, Paris[(#72)] | 107 | 32 | 29.9 | | | Dr. Louis, Paris[(#72)] | 107 | 32 | 29.9 | | ||
| Line 599: | Line 604: | ||
| | **Treatment** | **Number of patients** | **Number of recoveries** | **Survival Rate** | **Number of deaths** | **Mortality Rate** | | | **Treatment** | **Number of patients** | **Number of recoveries** | **Survival Rate** | **Number of deaths** | **Mortality Rate** | | ||
| - | | **Homeopathy** | **25,216** | **24,360** | **96.6** | **866** | **3.4** | | + | | Homeopathy | 25,216 | 24,360 | 96.6 | 866 | 3.4 | |
| - | | **PAA** | **146,237** | **110,539** | **75.8** | **35,698** | **24.4** | | + | | PAA | 146,237 | 110,539 | 75.8 | 35,698 | 24.4 | |
| - | | **CC** **C (limited to CAP)** | **33,148** | **28,607** | **86.3** | **4,541** | **13.7** | | + | | CCC (limited to CAP) | 33,148 | 28,607 | 86.3 | 4,541 | 13.7 | |
| Statistics from these outcomes show that: | Statistics from these outcomes show that: | ||
| Line 612: | Line 617: | ||
| ===== Pneumonia during the 1918-1920 Influenza Pandemic ===== | ===== Pneumonia during the 1918-1920 Influenza Pandemic ===== | ||
| - | The second part of the answer to Dr. Steven Novella’s first question will follow in June. | + | The second part of the answer to Dr. Steven Novella’s first question [[talk-saine-novella-question01-part02|will follow in June]]. |
en/misc/talk-saine-novella-question01.1370442881.txt.gz · Last modified: 2013/06/05 14:34 by legatum
Page Tools
Except where otherwise noted, content on this wiki is licensed under the following license: CC Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
