Obstetrics and gynecology outpatient scenario of an Indian homeopathic hospital: A prospective, research-targeted study

The authors aimed to document prescriptions and clinical outcomes in routine homeopathic practice to short list promising areas of targeted research and efficacy trials of homeopathy in obstetrics and gynecology (O&G). Three homeopathic physicians participated in methodical data collection over a 3-month period in the O&G outpatient setting of The Calcutta Homeopathic Medical College and Hospital, West Bengal, India. A specifically designed Excel spreadsheet was used to record data on consecutive appointments, including date, patient identity, socioeconomic status, place of abode, religion, medical condition/complaint, whether chronic/acute, new/follow-up case, patient-assessed outcome (7-point Likert scale: −3 to +3), prescribed homeopathic medication, and whether other medication/s was being taken for the condition. These spreadsheets were submitted monthly for data synthesis and analysis. Data on 878 appointments (429 patients) were collected, of which 61% were positive, 20.8% negative, and 18.2% showed no change. Chronic conditions (93.2%) were chiefly encountered. A total of 434 medical conditions and 52 varieties were reported overall. The most frequently treated conditions were leucorrhea (20.5%), irregular menses (13.3%), dysmenorrhea (10%), menorrhagia (7.5%), and hypomenorrhea (6.3%). Strongly positive outcomes (+3/+2) were mostly recorded in oligomenorrhea (41.7%), leucorrhea (34.1%), polycystic ovary (33.3%), dysmenorrhea (28%), and irregular menses (22.2%). Individualized prescriptions predominated (95.6%). A total of 122 different medicines were prescribed in decimal (2.9%), centesimal (87.9%), and 50 millesimal potencies (4.9%). Mother tinctures and placebo were prescribed in 3.4% and 30.4% instances, respectively. Several instances of medicine-condition pairings were detected. This systematic recording cataloged the frequency and success rate of treating O&G conditions using homeopathy.