Evaluation of the Adjuvant Efficacy of Natural Herbal Medicine on COVID-19: A Retrospective Matched Case-Control Study

Abstract

Since the outbreak of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Hubei province, the epidemic scale has increased rapidly, and no effective antiviral drug therapy has been identified yet. This study aimed to evaluate the adjuvant efficacy of Natural Herbal Medicine (NHM) combined with Western medicine in the treatment of COVID-19. We performed a retrospective, 1:1 matched, case-control study of the first cohort of hospitalized COVID-19-confirmed cases (January 17, 2020 to January 28, 2020). A total of 22 of the 36 confirmed patients were included in this study, split into two groups of 11: the NHM group (NHM combined standard Western medicine treatment) and control group (standard Western medicine treatment alone). All patients received appropriate supportive care and regular clinical and laboratory monitoring. Main evaluation indicators included improvement of clinical symptoms such as fever, cough and diarrhea after hospitalization; pathogen nucleic acid test result of respiratory tract and fecal specimens of the patient after hospitalization, and change of chest CT examination after hospitalization. The duration of fever in the NHM group ([Formula: see text] days) was significantly shorter than that in the control group ([Formula: see text] days) ([Formula: see text]). During the whole hospitalization period, the number of cases with diarrhea in the NHM group (two cases) was less than that in the control group (eight cases) ([Formula: see text]). Compared with the control group ([Formula: see text]), the duration for improvement (DI) of chest CT in the NHM group ([Formula: see text]) was significantly shorter ([Formula: see text]). Our results suggest that NHM could improve the clinical symptoms of COVID-19 patients and may be effective in treating COVID-19; thus, a larger, prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trial should be conducted to further evaluate the adjuvant efficacy of NHM in the treatment of COVID-19.

Potential Simultaneous Inhibitors of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 and Transmembrane Protease, Serine 2

“…Some herbal formulas are used for the prophylaxis and treatment of SARS-CoV-2 (Li et al, 2020;Ren et al, 2020;Runfeng et al, 2020;Zhang et al, 2020). However, the actual inhibitory mechanisms preventing SARS-CoV-2 entry into the host cells and the efficiency of these formulas remain unclear.…”

The effect of Chinese herbal medicine on digestive system and liver functions should not be neglected in COVID‐19: An updated systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…In total, we analyzed 48 studies 3–7,20–60 recruiting 4,704 patients with COVID‐19. Of these, 29 20,22–29,31,34–36,39,40,49–62 were observational studies with a control group, and 19 3–7,30,32,33,37,38,41–48,63 were RCTs included in the final analysis. Of these participants, 2,696 had been assigned to receive CHM as an adjuvant medicine, and 2,008 receive standard pharmacotherapy.…”

“…The other 13 studies 5–7,32,33,37,38,41–46 did not mention the blinding of patients and personnel. Table 3 showed the NOS details for 29 observational studies 20,22–29,31,34–36,39,40,49–62 . Eight observational studies 20,22,24,26,34,49,50,57 were judged to be of moderate methodologic quality, subject to the unsatisfying risk of bias mostly owing to the lack of adequacy of follow up and completing accounting for observational studies.…”

“…The aggravation of COVID‐19 among users and non‐users of CHM for COVID‐19 was assessed by 28 studies including 12 RCTs 4–6,30,33,38,41–44,48,63 and 16 controlled observational studies 22,25,26,28,29,31,35,36,39,50,52,58–62 . Of the total 3,415 COVID‐19 patients included, 2,011 received CHM along with standard pharmacotherapy and 1,404 received only standard pharmacotherapy.…”

Uso das práticas integrativas e complementares em pacientes com COVID-19: Revisão de escopo

“…In view of this, in this study, phytotherapy stood out for presenting good results when used in a complementary way to the treatment of contemporary Western medicine and aims to treat the body changes caused by COVID-19 (Ren et al, 2020;Xu & Zang, 2020;Wang et al, 2020;Xiao et al, 2020;Chan et al, 2020;Zengli et al, 2020;H-T. Zhang et al, 2020;Fan et al, 2020;Liu et al, 2020;Ang et al, 2020;. However, to ensure its success, it is essential to consider the progression of the disease and the severity of the clinical symptoms, as well as to establish the body imbalance that needs to be treated (Xu & Zhang, 2020;Wang et al, 2020;Xiao et al, 2020).…”