Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32944201›Full record

ArticleEuropean clinical respiratory journal2020

Evaluating the effect on asthma quality of life of added reflexology or homeopathy to conventional asthma management - an investigator-blinded, randomised, controlled parallel group study.

Ayfer Topcu, Anders Løkke, Leila Eriksen, Lars Peter Nielsen, Ronald Dahl

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in European clinical respiratory journal, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.1field-weighted citation impact, top 52% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Foot Reflexology: Recent Research Trends and Prospects.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Ayfer TopcuDepartment of Medicine, The Regional Hospital in Horsens, Horsens, Denmark.
Anders LøkkeDepartment of Medicine, Little Belt Hospital, Vejle, Denmark.
Leila EriksenCAM Consultant, Reflexologist, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Lars Peter NielsenDepartment of Clinical Pharmacology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
Ronald DahlGlobal Medical Expert, GSK, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Aarhus University Hospital · DKRegional Hospital Horsens · DKUniversity of Southern Denmark · DK

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAsthma is a common chronic disease worldwide without any known cure. Despite remarkable improvement in asthma treatment, better education and guideline implementation strategies, there is growing interest in using complementary and alternative medicine, like reflexology and homeopathy. However, evidence supporting the effectiveness of homeopathy and reflexology in asthma treatment is not available.

objectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of reflexology and homeopathy as adjunctive therapies in asthma.

methodsIn a single centre, randomised, investigator blinded, controlled study 86 asthma patients were enrolled. They were assigned to one of three study groups (conventional treatment alone or conventional treatment with addition of either homeopathy or reflexology). All patients received their asthma treatment during the study and were followed as usual by their general practitioner. The study assignment group of individual patients were blinded to the investigators, who made the clinical evaluation of asthma control. The primary outcome was the change in the asthma quality of life questionnaire (AQLQ) scores after 26 weeks. Secondary outcomes included asthma control questionnaire, EuroQol, forced expiratory volume in 1 sec, morning and evening peak expiratory flow, asthma symptoms, rescue medication use, and total medication score.

resultsMinor improvements in the AQLQ score were observed in all three groups. However, no statistically significant changes in AQLQ scores were seen within or between groups. Likewise, secondary outcomes did not differ between groups.

conclusionsIn this study, the addition of homeopathy or reflexology to conventional treatment did not result in improved quality of life in asthma.

Indexed as

asthmaComplementary and alternative medicinehomeopathyquality of liferandomised controlled trialreflexology

Identifiers

PMID32944201
PMCPMC7480456
OpenAlexW3042582650

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.