Individualized homoeopathic medicines in treatment of chronic tonsillitis in adults: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, pilot trial

Thepatient’s quality of life is significantly negatively impacted by chronictonsillitis. Chronic tonsillitis is said to benefit from homeopathic medicines,however there is currently inadequate evidence to support this claim. We evaluated the efficacy ofindividualized homeopathic medicines (IHMs) in treating chronic tonsillitis inadults in comparison with placebos. Inthis 3-month, double-blind, randomized (1:1), placebo-controlled trial, 60 adultpatients with chronic tonsillitis were randomized to receive either IHMs oridentical-looking placebos. Conventional management was advised concurrently toall individuals. The primary outcome was disease severity using the visualanalogue scale (VAS) scores of sore throat pain model (STPM) comprising of the sorethroat pain intensity VAS (STPIS-VAS), difficulty swallowing scale VAS (DSS-VAS),and swollen throat scale VAS (SWOTS-VAS); secondary outcomes were the Tonsiland adenoid health status instrument (TAHSI) scores and Glasgow benefitinventory (GBI) scale – all measured at baseline, and every month, up to 3months. Group differences were calculated on the intention-to-treat sample usingunpaired t-tests primarily, and two-ways repeated measure analysis of variancesecondarily. After3 months of intervention, inter-group differences became statisticallysignificant favoring IHMs against placebos on STPIS-VAS (mean difference: -1.2,95% CI -1.8 to -0.7, P < 0.001, d = 1.142), DSS-VAS (mean difference:-1.3, 95% CI -1.9 to -0.7, P < 0.001, d = 1.129), and SWOTS-VAS(mean difference: -1.4, 95% CI -2.0 to -0.8, P < 0.001, d = 1.167).Secondary outcomes also revealed significance favoring homeopathy over placebo after3 months – TAHSI (mean difference: -13.1, 95% CI -20.3 to -5.9, P < 0.001,d = 0.943), and GBI (mean difference: -10.6, 95% CI -16.3 to -4.9, P< 0.001, d = 0.967). TAHSI subscales and GBI subscales also yielded similarsignificant results. Secondary analyses failed to demonstrate any significant effecton the primary outcome, but showed significance on the secondary outcomes and inmost of the subscales. Thus, IHMsconsiderably outperformed placebos in the treatment of adult patients withchronic tonsillitis.