Analysis of property and efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine in staging revention and treatment of coronavirus disease 2019

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) triggered a severe and complicated epidemic situation, and it is of great significance to discuss the rules and characteristics of the prescription of COVID-19 in traditional Chinese medicine. This study collected prevention and treatment approaches of traditional Chinese medicine for COVID-19 released from the National Health Committee of China, 7 provinces and municipal health committees, the Chinese Medicine Administration and Handbook of Traditional Chinese Medicine Diagnosis and Treatment of COVID-19 between January 1 and February 18, 2020, and prescriptions prepared by 3 masters of Chinese medicine and 4 well-known Chinese medicine experts. These information were selected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and EpiData 3.0 software was used to establish the "Traditional Chinese Medicine Prescription Library for the Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19" and the "Common Database of Traditional Chinese Medicine for the Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19". A total of 93 effective Chinese medicine prescriptions and a total of 157 kinds of constituent medicines were collected. Data analysis was performed by SPSS 18.0 software. The results showed that: ①most of the medicines are with cold and warm properties, 69 with cold medicines, accounting for 43.95%, 57 with warm medicines, accounting for 36.31%, and less with hot medicines, taking up 1.27%; ②there are many pungent, bitter and sweet medicines, and the distribution of medicinal flavors is different at different disease stage. The pungent medicines are mostly found in the early stage, the bitter drugs are the main flavor in the middle and severe stage, and the sweet medicines are mostly used in the recovery stage; ③the meridian of the drug is more concentrated at the lung, stomach, and heart, and most of drugs are into the lung meridian, accounting for 24.55%; these medicines are mostly into the lungs and stomach in the initial and middle stages, and into the heart and kidney in severe stages; ④oral drugs are mostly non-toxic, among which only 6 kinds are toxic, namely Armeniacae Semen Amarum, Dryopteridis Crassirhizomatis Rhizoma, Paridis Rhizoma, Pinelliae Rhizoma, Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparaia; ⑤most of the drugs have five types of functions: treating exterior syndromes, resolving dampness, clearing heat, replenishing deficiency, resolving phlegm, cough, and asthma. In the early stage, both drugs for treating exterior syndromes and heat clearing drugs were equally used, accounting for 18.81% each. In the middle stage, drugs resolving phlegm, cough, and asthma drugs are more often used, accounting for 29.61%. In the severe stage, heat clearing drugs are mostly used, accounting for 33.33%. During the recovery period, tonic deficiency drugs are used the most, accounting for 36.47%. The medical characteristics and efficacy of Chinese medicine in preventing and treating COVID-19 are closely related to the understanding of the etiology of Chinese medicine and the location and pathogenesis of the disease. Staged medication and local conditions need attention during the identification and treatment of COVID-19 clinical syndromes.