Objectives This study aimed to evaluate the effects of Chinese Medicine (CM) on the health condition of the post-COVID-19 patients, particularly with the CM Syndrome diagnosis and Body Constitutions (BC), as well as related clinical characteristics. Methods 150 participants who had COVID-19 and discharged from Hong Kong public hospitals were recruited. They were provided with three to six months of CM treatments, during which assessments were made per month and at follow-up on their CM syndromes, BC, lung functions, and other medical conditions. This study was divided into two parts: (1) Retrospective survey: medical history of participants during COVID-19 hospitalization was collected during the baseline visit; (2) Prospective observation and assessments: clinical symptoms, lung functions, and BC status were evaluated in participants receiving CM treatment based on syndrome differentiation and clinical symptoms. Results The median hospitalization period was 16 days. Symptoms were presented in 145 (96.6%) patients at the day they were diagnosed with COVID-19. Fever, fatigue, and dry cough were the most common symptoms, exhibiting in 59.3% (89 of 150), 55.3% (83 of 150), and 46% (70 of 150) participants, respectively. Among the 150 post-COVID patients, majority (71.3%) were of the two particular post-COVID CM Syndromes (Qi Deficiency of Lung and Spleen, and Qi and Yin Deficiency). Upon CM treatment, there was an observable increase in participants reaching a balanced BC (i.e. healthy body conditions). The increase was observed to be more prominent in those without the particular CM Syndromes compared to those with the CM Syndromes. Main clinical symptoms in participants with the CM Syndromes decreased upon CM treatment. Occurrence of fatigue also dropped after CM treatment though not all accompanied clinical symptoms were resolved fully. Further to the improvement in terms of CM assessments, lung functions of the participants were found to show improvement after treatment. Both the performance in 6MWT and scores in the LFQ improved upon CM treatments (P < 0.05). Conclusion This study provided evidence for individualized CM treatment on COVID-19 rehabilitation concerning the clinical symptoms improvements, lung functions improvement, and achieving a balanced BC. It is believed that CM may be a key to further promote rehabilitation and resolution of residual symptoms. Long-term large scale follow-up studies on sub-categorising post-COVID patients according to different CM syndromes would be required to further elucidate treatment of persistent symptoms that may be associated with long-COVID.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has lasted for more than 16 months, and there have been over 169 million confirmed cases worldwide. Besides, after treatment with Western medicine or undergoing home quarantine, COVID-19 patients are still severely or mildly functionally impaired. Though COVID-19 patients were discharged from the hospital, most of them still exhibit certain clinical symptoms such as fatigue, poor appetite, shortness of breath, and poor sleep. The syndromes, linked with the Chinese Medicine (CM) body constitutions, could be due to pre-COVID-19 infections, suffering from the infection, or a post-infection consequence. CM has been used by humans for thousands of years in Asia, especially in Hong Kong, and it is gaining increasing attention and popularity. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of CM on alleviating the clinical symptoms of the discharged COVID-19 Patients. This was a multicenter observational and comparative study. One hundred and fifty participants discharged from Hong Kong hospitals were recruited. The patients received three to six months of treatment using CM and were assessed by questionnaires and lung function tests each month during the treatment period and on the 9th month follow-up visit. In light of this global pandemic, we hope this study will bring new opportunities for CM, and facilitate patient recovery and rehabilitation. We believe that this may be the key to promoting rehabilitation.

Background: Olfactory dysfunction (OD) was recognized as one of common symptom of COVID-19. OD, defined as the reduced or distorted ability to smell during sniffing (orthonasal olfaction) and may represent one of early symptoms in the clinical course of COVID-19 infection. A large online questionnaire-based survey found that some of post COVID-19 patients showed no improvement at one month after they were discharged from hospital. Therefore, this clinical trial is designed to explore the efficacy of acupuncture for OD in infected COVID-19 patients and to determine whether acupuncture could have benefits than sham acupuncture for OD in post- COVID-19 patients.Methods: This is a single blind, randomized controlled, cross over trial. We plan to recruit forty post-COVID-19 patients who are presenting with smell loss or smell distortions more than one month. Qualified patients will be randomly allocated into the intervention group (real acupuncture) or the control group (sham acupuncture) in a 1:1 ratio. Each patient will receive 8 sessions of treatment over 4 week (Cycle 1), and 2-week follow-up. After the follow-up, the control group will be conducted with real acupuncture for another 4 weeks (Cycle 2), and the real acupuncture group will be conducted with the 4-week sham acupuncture. The primary outcomes are the scores change on the questionnaire of olfactory functioning and olfaction related quality of life at weeks 6, 8, 12 and 14 from the baseline. Secondary outcome is the change on the Olfactory Test score at the week 6 and 12 from the baseline measured by using the Traditional Chinese version of the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT-TC).Discussion: The results of this trial will help to determine the effectiveness of acupuncture for OD in post-COVID-19 Patients. This may provide a new treatment option for patients.Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04959747, Registered on July 13, 2021.