ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To analyze the distribution characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndromes in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in plateau areas, and to provide theoretical basis for further clinical treatment of patients with COVID-19. METHODS: From August 9 to August 24, 2022, patients with COVID-19 admitted to the Third People's Hospital of Tibet Autonomous Region (designated hospital for COVID-19) were included, and their baseline characteristics (age, gender, source), clinical classification and distribution of TCM syndrome types were collected and analyzed. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 26.0 statistical software. RESULTS: A total of 161 COVID-19 patients were enrolled with ethnic distribution: 124 (77.02%) Tibetans, 35 (21.74%) Han, and 2 (1.24%) Hui, 68 males and 93 females. The male-to-female ratio was 0.73:1. Aged 1 to 94 years, the average age was (39.06±23.64) years old, of which 4 patients were under 1 year old (excluded because the information was missing). A total of 157 patients were enrolled, and 124 patients (78.9%) were under 60 years old, including 120 cases of common type, 4 cases of severe type, 0 cases of critical type, 7 cases over 80 years old, 1 case over 90 years old, and 32 cases under 18 years old. The clinical manifestations of the patient are mainly cough, expectoration, fever, aversion to cold, dry throat, headache, fatigue, running nose, dry mouth, bitter mouth, etc. Most of the tongue is pale, red, and white greasy moss or thin white coating. In TCM, the most common syndrome was cold-dampness blocking lung syndrome (99 cases, 63.06%), followed by cold-dampness stagnant lung syndrome (22 cases, 14.01%), damp-heat accumulating lung syndrome (22 cases, 14.01%), and humidity stagnant lung syndrome (11 cases, 7.01%). Syndromes of epidemic (2 cases, 1.27%), epidemic toxins blocking the lung pattern (1 cases, 0.64%), toxins with dryness intense heat in both qi and ying phases pattern (0 cases) accounted for less than 2%, and the distribution of various syndrome types in COVID-19 patients was uneven (χ 2 = 0.48, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The most common TCM syndromes of COVID-19 patients in Lhasa are cold-dampness blocking lung syndrome, followed by cold-dampness stagnant lung syndrome, damp-heat accumulating lung syndrome, and humidity stagnant lung syndrome.