Efficacy of Fuzheng Huayu Tablets for Treating Pulmonary Inflammation in COVID-19 Patients

ABSTRACT

Objective：To observe the efficacy and safety of Fuzheng Huayu tablets（FHT）for treating pulmonary inflammation in patients with coronavirus disease 2019（COVID-19）. Method：A total of 70（4 cases were lost to follow-up, and 66 cases were finally completed）COVID-19 patients were recruited from February 1 to April 15 in 2020. They were assigned to a control group（35 patients）and a FHT group（31 patients）. The patients in the control group received routine treatment alone and those in the FHT group received FHT in addition to routine treatment. The primary outcome was the ratio of patients showing improvement in chest computed tomographic manifestations after 14 days. The secondary outcome measures included remission rate or progression rate of critical illness，clinical remission rate of respiratory symptoms，routine blood examination， C-reactive protein（CPR）level，procalcitonin（PCT）level，and blood oxygen saturation（SPO2 ）. The safety was assessed based on liver and kidney functions and adverse events. Result： After the 14-day treatment，the ratio of patients showing improvement in the FHT group（100%）was higher than that in the control group （77.1%）（χ2 =8.063，P<0.01）. The ratio of disease stages after treatment showed no significant difference between two groups. In the FHT group，the symptoms including cough，dyspnea，and fatigue were alleviated after treatment（P<0.01）. In the control group，the symptoms including fever，cough，and dyspnea were alleviated（P<0.01），while the fatigue was not relieved after treatment. No significant difference was observed in the clinical symptoms between the two groups after treatment. After treatment，the FHT group showed decreased white blood cell（WBC）count and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio（NLR）（P<0.01），elevated platelet（PLT）level（P<0.05），lowered CRP level（P<0.05），and no significant difference in lymphocyte （LYM），hemoglobin（Hb），SPO2 or PCT level. The control group showed decreased NLR（P<0.05）and WBC count（P<0.01），elevated PCT level（P<0.05），and no significant change in LYM，Hb，PLT，SPO2 or CRP level after treatment. Furthermore，the FHT group had higher PLT level than the control group（P<0.05）after treatment，and other indicators had no significant differences between the two groups. The liver and kidney functions had no significant difference between the two groups after treatment. Conclusion： FHT can safely promote the absorption of acute pulmonary inflammation in COVID-19 patients. © 2022, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences Institute of Chinese Materia Medica. All rights reserved.