• Medicine · Jul 2021

    Meta Analysis

    Use of traditional Chinese medicine as an adjunctive treatment for COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

    • Feng Li, Yongqing Jiang, Bei Yue, and Lili Luan.
    • Department of Infectious Diseases, Zhongshan Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian Province, People's Republic of China.
    • Medicine (Baltimore). 2021 Jul 30; 100 (30): e26641e26641.

    BackgroundThis review aims to evaluate the supportive effects of frequently used traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).MethodsFive databases were searched through July 7, 2020. Randomized controlled trials investigating the efficacy of TCM for use in the treatment of COVID-19 were included. Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) and modified Jadad score were used for the evaluation of the methodological quality of the included studies. Weighted mean difference, odds ratio (OR), and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were calculated for pooling out results. Data were extracted for conducting a meta-analysis using STATA version 12.0.ResultsEight studies with a total of 750 patients were included in this meta-analysis. All included trial groups involved treatment with TCM and Western medicine, while the control groups were treated only with Western medicine. The intervention therapy significantly improved the overall effective rate (n = 346, OR = 2.5, 95% CIs = 1.46-4.29), fever symptom disappearance rate (n = 436; OR = 3.6; 95% CIs = 2.13-6.08), fatigue symptom disappearance rate (n = 436; OR = 3.04; 95% CIs = 1.76-5.26), cough symptom disappearance rate (n = 436; OR = 2.91; 95% CIs = 1.36-6.19), and sputum production reduction (n = 436; OR = 5.51; 95% CIs = 1.94-15.64). Based on the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale assessment, 6 studies received a score of 4, and 1 study achieved a score of 5. One study was assessed using the modified Jadad score, achieving a score of 6.ConclusionsThe integration of TCM with Western medicine has significantly improved the treatment for COVID-19 patients compared to Western medicine treatment alone. Combined therapy using TCM and Western medicine revealed the potential adjunctive role of TCM in treating COVID-19. However, high-quality clinical studies are still required to further evaluate the efficacy and safety of TCM in the treatment of COVID-19.Copyright © 2021 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

      Pubmed     Free full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…