ABSTRACT
This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) in patients with severe/critical coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this retrospective study, data were collected from 662 patients with severe/critical COVID-19 who were admitted to a designated hospital to treat patients with severe COVID-19 in Wuhan before March 20, 2020. All patients were divided into an exposed group (CHM users) and a control group (non-users). After propensity score matching in a 1:1 ratio, 156 CHM users were matched by propensity score to 156 non-users. No significant differences in seven baseline clinical variables were found between the two groups of patients. All-cause mortality was reported in 13 CHM users who died and 36 non-users who died. After multivariate adjustment, the mortality risk of CHM users was reduced by 82.2% (odds ratio 0.178, 95% CI 0.076-0.418; P < 0.001) compared with the non-users. Secondly, age (odds ratio 1.053, 95% CI 1.023-1.084; P < 0.001) and the proportion of severe/critical patients (odds ratio 0.063, 95% CI 0.028-0.143; P < 0.001) were the risk factors of mortality. These results show that the use of CHM may reduce the mortality of patients with severe/critical COVID-19.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 Drug Treatment , COVID-19/mortality , COVID-19/therapy , Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use , Medicine, Chinese Traditional , Age Factors , Aged , China , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Odds Ratio , Propensity Score , Retrospective Studies , Survival RateABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a worldwide pandemic and precise fatality data by age group is needed urgently. This study to delineate the clinical characteristics and outcome of COVID-19 patients aged ≥75 years and identify the risk factors of in-hospital death. METHODS: A total of 141 consecutive patients aged ≥75 years who were admitted to the hospital between 12th and 19th February 2020. In-hospital death, clinical characteristics and laboratory findings on admission were obtained from medical records. The final follow-up observation was on the 31st March 2020. RESULTS: The median age was 81 years (84 female, 59.6%). Thirty-eight (27%) patients were classified as severe or critical cases. 18 (12.8%) patients had died in hospital and the remaining 123 were discharged. Patients who died were more likely to present with fever (38.9% vs. 7.3%); low percutaneous oxygen saturation (SpO2) (55.6% vs. 7.3%); reduced lymphocytes (72.2% vs. 35.8%) and platelets (27.8% vs. 4.1%); and increased D-dimer (94.4% vs. 42.3%), creatinine (50.0% vs. 22.0%), lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) (77.8% vs. 30.1%), high sensitivity troponin I (hs-TnI) (72.2% vs. 14.6%), and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) (72.2% vs. 6.5%; all P < 0.05) than patients who recovered. Male sex (odds ratio [OR] = 13.1, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1 to 160.1, P = 0.044), body temperature > 37.3 °C (OR = 80.5, 95% CI 4.6 to 1407.6, P = 0.003), SpO2 ≤ 90% (OR = 70.1, 95% CI 4.6 to 1060.4, P = 0.002), and NT-proBNP> 1800 ng/L (OR = 273.5, 95% CI 14.7 to 5104.8, P < 0.0001) were independent risk factors of in-hospital death. CONCLUSIONS: In-hospital fatality among elderly COVID-19 patients can be estimated by sex and on-admission measurements of body temperature, SpO2, and NT-proBNP.