Critical Appraisal Tool of Homeopathic Intervention Studies – CATHIS

Background: Many clinical trials testing various forms of homeopathy have been reported in the literature. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of these studies have only rarely considered whether the type of homeopathy applied or the way the study was conducted make the results relevant for clinical decisions. We constructed a critical appraisal tool to be employed for assessment of homeopathic intervention studies.

Method: Delphi feedback rounds were conducted to elicit responses on the feasibility of a draft appraisal tool. After the first round, a preliminary tool was pilot tested by five research experts on five randomly selected studies. The tool was adapted and again used to assess another five studies by the same experts. An additional three experts tested the second version.

Results: The inter-rater reliability, calculated using Gwet’s AC2, was 0.81 (95% CI: 0.75 to 0.88) for five raters in round 2, or 0.64 (95% CI 0.49 to 0.79) for an additional three raters in round 2, and thus had good to moderate inter-rater reliability. The instrument was evaluated as “easy to apply” by the raters.

Conclusion: We have developed a critical appraisal tool for the assessment of homeopathic intervention studies which has acceptable reliability and applicability. We recommend its use for systematic review and meta-analyses of homeopathic intervention studies.

Keywords: Homeopathic intervention studies, quality assessments

Publication History

Article published online:
30 January 2024