Home Medicine Individualized homeopathic medicines and Urtica urens mother tincture in treatment of hyperuricemia: an open, randomized, pragmatic, pilot trial
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Individualized homeopathic medicines and Urtica urens mother tincture in treatment of hyperuricemia: an open, randomized, pragmatic, pilot trial

  • Chintamani Nayak EMAIL logo , Nivedita Pattanaik , Abhijit Chattopadhyay , Pankhuri Misra , Koushik Bhar , James Michael , Munmun Koley and Subhranil Saha ORCID logo
Published/Copyright: October 20, 2020
Journal of Complementary and Integrative Medicine
From the journal Journal of Complementary and Integrative Medicine Volume 18 Issue 3

Abstract

Objectives

The quality of management of hyperuricemia has remained sub-optimal owing to unavoidable toxicities, limitations, and dearth of novel advances. Homeopathy has remained under-researched in hyperuricemia. We investigated the clinical effectiveness of three treatment regimens – individualized homeopathy (IH), Urtica urens mother tincture (UUMT), and both (IH + UUMT) along with lifestyle modifications in a sample of 90 patients with hyperuricemia.

Methods

An open, randomized (1:1:1), 3 parallel arms (IH, UUMT, and IH + UUMT), pragmatic trial was conducted at National Institute of Homoeopathy, Kolkata. Outcome measures were serum uric acid (primary), Gout Assessment Questionnaire version 2 (GAQ2, secondary), and Measure Yourself Medical Outcome Profile version 2 (MYMOP2, secondary); all measured at baseline, and after 3 and 6 months. Intention- to-treat sample was analyzed to detect group differences by unpaired t tests.

Results

Attrition rate was 8.9% (IH: 3, UUMT: 3, IH + UUMT: 2). Groups were comparable at baseline. Reductions in serum uric acid over 3 months were comparatively higher (p=0.057) in the UUMT group than others, however, the differences were narrowed over 6 months (p=0.119). Per protocol analysis of serum uric acid level revealed similar trend of significantly higher reduction in the UUMT group than the other two (3 months: p=0.001; 6 months: p=0.007). No significant differences existed in reductions of GAQ2 scores among the three groups. Few significant differences were detected in MYMOP scores over 3 months favoring IH against others (symptom 2, p=0.001 and wellbeing score, p=0.002), and also over 6 months favoring IH + UUMT against others (symptom 1, p<0.001).

Conclusion

Although all three therapies showed similar improvements, the IH + UUMT group had more positive direction of effects than IH or UUMT alone; however, no definite conclusion could be arrived at. Further trials are warranted with larger sample size. Trial registration: CTRI/2018/05/014026.

Keywords: clinical trial; homeopathy; hyperuricemia; pragmatic trial; randomized controlled trial; Urtica urens
Corresponding author: Dr. Chintamani Nayak, Ph.D. Scholar, Shree Guru Gobind Singh Tricentenary University, Gurgaon, Gurugram, Haryana 122505, India; and Dept. of Materia Medica, National Institute of Homoeopathy, Ministry of AYUSH, Govt. of India, Block GE, Sector 3, Salt Lake, Kolkata 700106, West Bengal, India, E-mail:

Acknowledgment

The authors are grateful to institutional heads, both academic and hospital section for allowing us to conduct the trial. We sincerely thank the patients for their sincere participation.

  1. Research funding: None declared.

  2. Author contribution: CN, NP, AC, PM, KB, JM, MK, SS: Concept, design, literature search, data interpretation, and preparation of the article; CN, PM, KB and JM: Clinical study and data acquisition. CN: Data management and master chart preparation; MK and SS: Data interpretation, statistical analysis; PM: Preparation of the article. All the authors reviewed and approved the final article.

  3. Competing interests: The funding organization(s) has no role to play in conduct of the trial or publication of the paper.

  4. Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study.

  5. Ethical approval: The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee (Ref. F. No. 5-23/NIH/PG/Ethical Comm. 2009/Vol. 5/2671 (A/S), dated April 10, 2018; Supplementary file 1) and was registered subsequently in the Clinical Trials Registry – India vide CTRI/2018/05/014026 with a secondary identifier – Universal Trial number of U1111-1214-230 (Supplementary file 2).

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Supplementary Material

The online version of this article offers supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/jcim-2020-0129).

Received: 2020-05-09
Accepted: 2020-07-29
Published Online: 2020-10-20

© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.1515/jcim-2020-0129
Keywords for this article
clinical trial; homeopathy; hyperuricemia; pragmatic trial; randomized controlled trial; Urtica urens

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Reviews
  3. ‘Ilāj bi’l-Tadbīr (regimenal therapy): a core mode of Unani treatment
  4. Understanding hormones in terms of humours (Akhlat) in Unani system of medicine
  5. Review Articles
  6. Understanding Humma-e-Wabai (epidemic fever) and Amraz-e-Wabai (epidemic disease) in the light of Unani medicine
  7. Emergence of antimicrobial resistance and magnitude of Unani medicine – scope and challenges
  8. Medicinal importance of Papra (Podophyllum hexandrum Royle) in Unani System of Medicine
  9. Research Articles
  10. Comparative effects of berberine and piperine on the neuroprotective potential of neostigmine
  11. Neera, a non-fermented traditional drink from coconut spadix restores the redox status in sodium fluoride intoxicated mice
  12. Evaluation of wound healing potential of Bhallatakadi Ghrita – cow ghee based polyherbal formulation: in-vivo excision and incision wound model
  13. Effects of co-administration of Unani pharmacopoeia formulations Qurs Tabasheer Sartani and Arq Hara Bhara with CAT-I antitubercular drugs in rats
  14. Neurotoxicity of organic solvents with emphasis on the role of iron
  15. Regular consumption of “Nkui”, a Cameroonian traditional dish, may protect against cardiovascular and bone disorders in an estrogen deficiency condition
  16. A spatial-temporal study of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) by type: exploring localization economies implications in urban areas in Ontario
  17. Complementary and alternative interventions for stroke recovery – a narrative overview of the published evidence
  18. The feasibility and acceptability of hypnotherapy among overweight and obese individuals in a Malaysia’s public university
  19. Effectiveness of wet cupping therapy on relieving pain in patients with chronic migraine: an observational study
  20. Effect of aromatherapy massage by orange essential oil on post-cesarean anxiety: a randomized clinical trial
  21. Effect of Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) on daytime and situational sleep propensity in novice practitioners: a prospective cohort study
  22. Comparison of instability resistance training, traditional resistance training and plyometric training on athletic performance parameters
  23. Individualized homeopathic medicines and Urtica urens mother tincture in treatment of hyperuricemia: an open, randomized, pragmatic, pilot trial
  24. Association of microsomal epoxide hydrolase gene (fast genotype) with lung functions impairment in wood workers
  25. Dietary glycine improves urine storage symptoms in urology outpatients
  26. Hypoxia-induced oxidative stress in high altitude population: impact of coenzyme Q10 supplementation
  27. Short Communications
  28. Terminalia arjuna induced testicular assault through Leydig cell derangement: an in vitro approach
  29. Effect of acupuncture on cognitive task performance of college students: a pilot study
  30. Yoga for children in the new normal – experience sharing
  31. Effect of Arogya Raksha Panchatantra (five lifestyle principles) on hematological parameters and anthropometric measures among healthy volunteers: a pilot study
  32. Case Reports
  33. Yellow phosphorous ingestion cause liver dysfunction and internal bleeding: a case study
  34. Effect of yoga on plasma glucose, lipid profile, blood pressure and insulin requirement in a patient with type 1 diabetes mellitus
  35. Management of Vipadika with Mahisha Gritha Padanimajjana – a case report
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