ORIGINAL PAPER Interim results of a randomised controlled trial of homeopathic treatment for irritable bowel syndrome Emily J Peckham 1, *, Clare Relton 2 , Jackie Raw 3 , Clare Walters 3 , Kate Thomas 2 , Christine Smith 3 , Kapil Kapur 3 and Elmuhtady Said 3 1 Department of Health Sciences, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK 2 School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, UK 3 Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, UK Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic condition for which there is no consensus on the optimum treatment. Gastroenterology problems are some of the most common conditions treated by homeopaths, yet few trials have explored the effectiveness of individualised homeopathic treatment for IBS. A three-armed trial was conducted which compared: usual care, homeopathic treatment plus usual care and supportive listening plus usual care. The primary outcome was change in irritable bowel symptom severity score between baseline and 26 weeks, calculated using ANCOVA. An interim ANCOVA adjusted for baseline IBS severity, age and employment status found no statistically significant difference between the three arms. However, a post-hoc test comparing homeopathic treatment plus usual care to usual care alone found a statistically signifi- cant difference in favour of homeopathic treatment. In addition, 62.5 percent of patients in the homeopathic treatment arm (compared to 25.0 percent of those in the usual care arm), achieved a clinically relevant change in irritable bowel symptom severity score, which indicates a promising effect for homeopathic treatment, though these results should be interpreted with caution due to the low number of participants in the study. Homeopathy (2014) 103, 172e177. Keywords: Irritable bowel syndrome; Homeopathy; Randomised controlled trial; Attention control Background Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic condition for which, at present, there is no cure. 1 There are an estimated 240,000 primary care consultations per year in the UK of new cases of IBS 2 and the economic costs of IBS in pri- mary care are estimated to be over £200 million. 3 IBS is characterised by recurrent symptoms (i.e., abdominal pain or discomfort, bloating, nausea, vomiting, early satiety, constipation, or diarrhoea) that indicate a dysfunc- tional gastrointestinal tract despite a lack of organic change or specific diagnosis. There is currently no consensus on optimum treatment, however many sufferers seek comple- mentary and alternative medicine. 4 Homeopathic treat- ment is one such option, yet there is much debate as to whether or not homeopathic treatment is anything more than a placebo. 5 Gastroenterology problems are the fourth most common referral to NHS homeopathic hospitals 6 and one of the eight most common conditions treated by NHS homeopaths in General Practice. 7 This study therefore aimed to investigate the effectiveness of homeopathic treat- ment for patients with IBS. The paper presented here re- ports the interim results of this study. Methods/design The rationale for this study was to test whether or not ho- meopathic treatment plus usual care was any different from *Correspondence: Emily J Peckham, Department of Health Sciences, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK. E-mail: emily.peckham@york.ac.uk Received 9 November 2012; revised 22 April 2014; accepted 4 May 2014 Homeopathy (2014) 103, 172e177 Ó 2014 The Faculty of Homeopathy http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.homp.2014.05.001, available online at http://www.sciencedirect.com