Abstract
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to estimate the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription in the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). METHODS: A multicenter prospective cohort study at 7 hospitals was conducted. The COVID-19 inpatients were divided into 2 groups. The control group received conventional treatment, and the TCM group received conventional treatment in combination with TCM prescription (Huashi Xuanfei decoction, Jiedu Xiefei decoction and Jianpi Bufei decoction). The 24 clinical symptoms of each patient were surveyed during 7 periods. The partial least squares discriminant analysis algorithm and Mann-Whitney U test were applied to systematical analyzing the differences in clinical symptoms between the 2 groups. RESULTS: A total of 38 and 77 cases were included for data analysis in the control and TCM groups, respectively. There were significant differences in scores of fever between the control and TCM groups on days 2 to 4 (1.00 vs 0.29, P = .003) and days 6 to 8 (0.53 vs 0.07, P = .024). The scores of poor appetite had significant differences between the control and TCM groups on days 0 to 1 (0.08 vs 0.51, P = .000), days 2 to 4 (0.05 vs 0.39, P = .001), days 20 to 22 (0.24 vs 0.05, P = .004) and days 27 to 29 (0.14 vs 0.03, P = .044). The scores of expectoration had significant differences on days 0 to 1 (0.32 vs 0.83, P = .000) and days 2 to 4 (0.24 vs 0.59, P = .001). CONCLUSION: The superiority of TCM prescription in improving symptoms of fever, poor appetite, and expectoration was demonstrated. The treatment regimen of using conventional treatment in combination with TCM prescription can significantly improve the clinical symptoms of COVID-19.