Efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine on shortening the negative conversion time of SARS-CoV-2 ribonucleic acid in patients with mild COVID-19: A retrospective cohort study

Background

The holistic view of the ‘The unity of man and nature’ promotes the development and application of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Despite the absence of modern pharmacological therapies with robust efficacy against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), TCM has exhibited potential utility for treating the disease in clinical practice.

Methods

A retrospective cohort study was conducted to investigate the therapeutic effect of TCM treatment intensity (TCMTI) in patients with mild COVID-19. A total of 6120 laboratory-confirmed patients with mild COVID-19 were recruited from temporary isolation facilities. The primary outcome measure was severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) ribonucleic acid conversion time. In addition, restricted cubic spline models were employed to elucidate nonlinear relationships.

Results

The median age (range) of the study participants was 43.0 (2.0–75.0) years, with a median hospitalization duration of 9.7 (4.1–22.5) days. The median time for achieving SARS-CoV-2 ribonucleic acid negativity was 6.67 days. The restricted cubic spline models revealed a remarkable nonlinear association between TCMTI and the time-to-ribonucleic acid negativity. After adjusting for potential confounders, the high TCMTI group exhibited a markedly shorter median time to SARS-CoV-2 ribonucleic acid negativity and reduced hospitalization duration (P < 0.001) than the low TCMTI group. Moreover, the mean time to achieve SARS-CoV-2 ribonucleic acid negativity was shortened by 1.909 days (P < 0.001) in the high-TCMTI group compared to the low-TCMTI group.

Conclusion

This study suggests that early initiation and intensified use of TCM may accelerate the time required to achieve SARS-CoV-2 ribonucleic acid negativity in patients with COVID-19, bearing considerable implications for public health.