Homeopathic treatment of acute childhood diarrhea: Results from a clinicaltrial in Nepal

Objective: To investigate whether the finding in a previous study that home opathic medicines decrease the duration of acute diarrhea in children could be replicated in a different study population. Design: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Setting: Private, charitable health clinic in Kathmandu, Nepal. Subjects: A consecutive sample of 126 children, 6 months to 5 years of age, who presented during April through June, 1994, with more than three unform ed stools in the previous 24 hours. Intervention: Children received either an individualized homeopathic medici ne or placebo, to be taken one dose after each unformed stool for 5 days. P arents recorded daily stools on diary cards, and health workers made home v isits daily to monitor children. Outcome measures: Predefined measures were based on the previous study: (1) duration of diarrhea, defined as the time until there were fewer than thre e unformed stools per day, for two consecutive days, and (2) Average number of stools per day for each group. Results: Of the 126 children initially enrolled, 116 completed treatment. T he mean number of stools per day over the entire 5-day treatment period was 3.2 for the treatment group and 4.5 for the placebo group (P = 0.023). A K aplan-Meier survival analysis of the duration of diarrhea, which included d ata from all patient visits, showed an 18.4% greater probability that a chi ld would be free of diarrhea by day 5 under homeopathic treatment (P = 0.03 6). Conclusions: These results are consistent with the finding from the previou s study that individualized homeopathic treatment decreases the duration of diarrhea and number of stools in children with acute childhood diarrhea.