Evaluation of a Prognostic Homeopathic Questionnaire for Women with Premenstrual Disorders

Validation of treatments with individually prescribed homeopathic medicines is a challenging task. A prognostic homeopathic patient questionnaire containing 140 keynote symptoms (highly characteristic of a specific homeopathic medicine) and an electronic algorithm to process the answers were used in 2 clinical studies. The algorithm outcome, based on total symptom scores, indicated 1 of 11 pre-selected homeopathic medicines for women with premenstrual syndrome and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMS/PMDD). Aims were (1) to estimate the prognostic values of keynote symptoms and (2) to evaluate the reliability of the homeopathic medicine ranking in the algorithm outcome.

The prevalence of specific keynote symptoms was calculated in 145 women diagnosed with PMS/PMDD and in 40 included women with favorable outcomes using 1 of the 11 homeopathic medicines. Likelihood ratios (LRs) of the keynote symptoms were calculated. Pearson's correlations were calculated between 2 sets of total algorithm scores for 11 homeopathic medicines, obtained at 2 time points.

(1) A positive prognostic value (LR ≥ 1.5) was found in 34 keynote symptoms with a prevalence of 10-40%, with 10 symptoms already being connected to the corresponding homeopathic medicine in the algorithm. For example, the symptom 'common cold of the nose before menstruation' indicated Magnesium carbonicum with LR = 7.47 (confidence interval (CI) 3.90-14.28). (2) Pearson's correlations for the reliability evaluation varied from 0.69 to 0.84.

Recommendations can be made to improve the PMS algorithm with more accurate keynote symptoms. The prognostic questionnaire proved a reliable tool to rank 11 homeopathic medicines by total scores, based on keynote symptoms. This PMS algorithm can be used for the treatment of PMS/PMDD in clinical practice.