Efficacy of Integrative Chinese-Western Medicine Treatments for COVID-19 Patients in ICU in Yichang, Hubei, China (preprint)

ABSTRACT

Background The prognosis of severe COVID-19 patients is poor. There are currently no definitely effective vaccines or antivirus drugs for COVID-19.Methods This prospective cohort study compared the efficacy and safety of integrative Chinese-Western medicine (ICWM) treatments with Western medicine (WM) treatments in severe or critically ill patients. The outcomes included mortality, hospital stay in ICU, days with ventilator-assisted ventilation, etc.Results A total of 36 confirmed COVID-19 patients in ICU were included. The median age of patients was 66 years (IQR 53-77.5), and there were 16 female patients (44.4%). There were no significant differences in laboratory tests and complications after treatments between groups. A total of 18 (50%) patients died during hospitalization, and the mortality in the ICWM group (28.6%) was significantly lower than that of the WM group (63.6%, adjusted P = 0.031). And the time of assisted ventilation was shorter in the ICWM group (adjusted P = 0.67). However, the median hospital stay was significantly longer in the ICWM group (18 vs. 14 days, adjusted P༜0.05).Conclusions ICWM treatments could significantly reduce the mortality and improve the clinical symptoms for severe or critically ill patients with COVID-19, and it was safe and cost-effective to add Chinese medicine.