Knowledge of medical professionals, their practices, and their attitudes toward traditional Chinese medicine for the prevention and treatment of coronavirus disease 2019: A survey in Sichuan, China.

Daiwen Li,Li Lei,He Mei,Xiao Bo Du,Jing Pu,Haiyan Wang,Wen-Jun Tu,Bin Li,Ying Ma,Jiekun Zhao

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0234855

Daiwen Li, Li Lei + Show 8 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234855

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Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: Mar 16, 2021
Citations: 9	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Mianyang Central Hospital

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the knowledge, practices, and attitudes of medical professionals toward Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for the prevention and treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). All 401 medical professionals were surveyed using an anonymous with an investigator using the Questionnaire star APP. The participants answered 14 questions; of the 401 participants, 55.2% agreed with the statement “TCM can be used for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19,” 40.4% remained neutral, and 4.4% disagreed. Moreover, 75.3% agreed with the statement “There is no specific drug for COVID-19,” 67% agreed with the statement “TCM can develop immunity to COVID-19” and 62.1% agreed with “TCM can alleviate the symptoms of patients with COVID-19.” Meanwhile, 69.1% were aware that TCM has been recommended for COVID-19 by the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China. Regarding the selection of sources of knowledge on whether “TCM can be used for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19,” There were 277, 123, 82, 369, and 17 participants selected sources from “Hospital training,” “Academic journals,” “Academic Conferences,” “Social media platforms (such as WeChat)” and “Others,” respectively. Further, 358 participants will take TCM for the prevention of COVID-19. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that age, major and received TCM treatment within the last five years were independent factors affecting the participants’ attitudes. In the absence of specific drugs for COVID-19, more than half of the participants agreed that TCM could be used for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 and most participants are willing to take TCM to prevent COVID-19, although unsure about its effectiveness. The main information sources on TCM for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19 were social platforms and hospital training.

Highlights

In December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was discovered in Wuhan, later spreading throughout China [1, 2]
Whether Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) can be used for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 remains unclear, and the attitudes of medical professionals with regard to this need are to be examined as well
The knowledge of the participants, their practices, and attitudes toward TCM for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 are shown in Table 2, and we performed a subgroup analysis to understand the impact of occupations on the survey

Summary

Introduction

In December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was discovered in Wuhan, later spreading throughout China [1, 2]. The complications of COVID-19 included acute respiratory distress syndrome, RNAaemia, acute cardiac injury, and secondary infections. The treatment of COVID-19 remains unclear and no antiviral treatment has been proven to be effective [4]. Preclinical evidence demonstrated the potent efficacy of remdesivir to treat severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infections [5, 6]. A randomized controlled trial has been quickly initiated to assess the efficacy and safety of the combined use of lopinavir and ritonavir in patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Corticosteroids were used frequently for the treatment of severely ill patients, there is no evidence that systematic corticosteroid treatment is beneficial or harmful for patients infected with COVID-19

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