ABSTRACT
Objective: To systematically evaluate the efficacy of integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine in the treatment of COVID-19, and to provide evidence for the clinical treatment of COVID-19. Methods: PubMed, Medline, EMbase, CNKI, Wanfang and VIP databases were searched by computer to collect clinical studies on the treatment of COVID-19 combined with traditional Chinese and western medicine. The retrieval time was up to February 2021. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, two researchers independently retrieved and screened literatures and extracted data, and Meta-analysis was performed using Stata 12.0 software. Results: A total of 27 studies were included in the Meta-analysis, including 12 RCTs and 15 retrospective studies, involving 2215 patients. The results of Meta-analysis showed that integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine could significantly shorten the length of hospital stay for COVID-19 patients [WMD=-0.84, 95% CI (-1.42, -0.27), P=0.004];The effective rate [RR=1.14, 95% CI (1.08, 1.21), P=0.000], lung CT improvement rate [RR=1.19, 95% CI (1.04, 1.35), P=0.000], and nucleic acid negative conversion rate [RR=1.40, 95% CI (1.16, 1.69), P=0.000] was increased;Patients' clinical symptoms was improved [WMD=-0.82, 95% CI (-1.08, -0.55), P=0.000] and the rate of transforming to severe disease was reduced [RR=0.37, 95%CI (0.25, 0.56), P=0.000]. In addition, compared with western medicine treatment alone, the disappearance rate of fever, cough and fatigue in COVID-19 patients treated with integrated Chinese and western medicine was significantly increased and the duration was significantly shortened (P < 0.05). The results of subgroup analysis were consistent with the above results, with statistical differences ( P< 0.05). Conclusion: The treatment of COVID-19 with integrated Chinese and western medicine is better than that with western medicine alone, and can significantly improve the treatment efficiency, CT improvement rate and nucleic acid negative conversion rate, reduce the proportion of ordinary patients converted to critical patients and improve the main clinical symptoms of COVID-19 patients. Thus the treatment of integrated Chinese and western medicine has positive clinical value for COVID-19. © 2021, Editorial Office of Chinese Traditional and Herbal Drugs. All right reserved.