Statistical analysis of six repertory rubrics after prospective assessment applying Bayes' theorem

BackgroundAfter prospective assessment of six homeopathic symptoms we validated some rubrics of the homeopathic repertory using Bayesian theory. In this paper we introduce statistical arguments for introducing or discarding entries from the repertory.Methods4094 patients entered the prospective study and 4072 prescriptions were evaluated. After translating typeface into Likelihood Ratios (LRs), Confidence Intervals and the probability of existing repertory entries compared to our findings were calculated.OutcomeOur assessment yielded 121 relevant results to validate existing repertory entries. Five symptoms could be compared with Kent's original repertory; they have about the same prevalence (range 3.9–6.5%) in the whole population, but the size of the corresponding repertory rubrics varies from 3 to 103 entries. LR assessment reduced the larger rubrics and supplemented the smaller ones. Our results do not correspond with 56% of the existing repertory entries regarding five symptom-rubrics. This result cannot be generalised for the whole repertory.