BACKGROUND: Over 65 million people have long COVID. Evidence for using Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) to treat long COVID is growing. A systematic review of evidence for guiding clinical decision is warranted. OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects and safety of CHM in alleviating the severity of dyspnea, fatigue, exercise intolerance, depression, anxiety and insomnia in long COVID adults based on registered randomized clinical trials (RCT). SEARCH STRATEGY: World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform and Chinese Clinical Trial Registry were searched for registered trial protocols from database inception to February 10, 2023. English (PubMed, Embase, AMED and CINAHL) and Chinese databases (CNKI, Wanfang Data and CQVIP) were then searched to identify relevant publications from December 2019 through April 6, 2023. INCLUSION CRITERIA: Registered RCTs that compared the effects of Chinese herbal medicines or Chinese herbal formulas against a control treatment (i.e., the placebo or usual care) in adults with persistent symptoms of long COVID. The primary outcome of dyspnea, and secondary outcomes of fatigue, exercise intolerance, depression, anxiety and insomnia were measured using validated tools at the end of the treatment. DATA EXTRACTION AND ANALYSIS: Data were extracted, and eligible RCTs were evaluated using version 2 of the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized trials and Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations independently by two researchers. Effect sizes were estimated by random-effects modelling and mean difference (MD). Heterogeneity between trials was quantified by I². RESULTS: Among the 38 registered clinical trials we identified, seven RCTs (1,519 patients) were included in the systematic review. One RCT had a low overall risk of bias. Compared to the control, CHM reduces dyspnea on the Borg Dyspnea Scale score (MD = -0.2, 95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.65 to 0.25) with moderate certainty, and reduces fatigue on the Borg Scale (MD = -0.48, 95% CI = -0.74 to -0.22) with low certainty. CHM clinically reduces depression on Hamilton Depression Rating Scale score (MD = -6.00, 95% CI = -7.56 to -4.44) and anxiety on Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale score (MD = -6.10, 95% CI = -7.67 to -4.53), and reduces insomnia on the Insomnia Severity Index (MD = -4.86, 95% CI = -12.50 to 2.79) with moderate certainty. Meta-analysis of two RCTs (517 patients) showed that CHM clinically improves exercise intolerance by increasing 6-minute walking distance (MD = -15.92, 95% CI = -10.20 to 42.05) with substantial heterogeneity (I² = 68%) and low certainty. CONCLUSION CHM is associated with a post-treatment clinical reduction in depression and anxiety in long COVID adults, compared to the control, but it does not have a strong treatment effect on dyspnea and insomnia. Effects of CHM on exercise intolerance and fatigue are uncertain, and the safety of using CHM remains questionable. Please cite this article as: Tsang MS, Zhou IW, Zhang AL, Xue CC. Chinese herbal medicine for dyspnea and persistent symptoms of long COVID: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. J Integr Med. 2025; 23(2): 126-137.
Humans ; Dyspnea/etiology* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ; COVID-19/complications* ; Fatigue/drug therapy* ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Anxiety/drug therapy* ; Depression/drug therapy* ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders/drug therapy* ; Betacoronavirus

This article researches how to allocate medical protective consumables in hospital and ensure the safety of emergency marketing procurement under the condition that people are easily susceptible to COVID-19. To inform medical staffs about the standard instruction, we establish the corresponding hierarchical control management system and standards of medical protective consumables. To reduce the stress of clinical medical staff and prevent excessive protection, we enhance the training mechanisms and promote the superior normative guidance. The aim is to fully play the effectiveness of the key departments of medical protective consumables, reduce the risk of infection of clinical medical staff and ensure the safety of medical staffs.
Betacoronavirus ; COVID-19 ; Coronavirus Infections ; Humans ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral ; SARS-CoV-2

OBJECTIVE: To explore the preventing infection measures of new coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) patients during mechanical ventilation, and to provide reference for the safe application of mechanical ventilation. METHODS: Retrieved from PubMed, Ovid and other databases, and combined with the application experience of mechanical ventilation were collected to explore the preventing infection measures of COVID-19 patients during mechanical ventilation. RESULTS: This paper put forward the preventing infection measures of external circuit, internal circuit, outer surface, filter and special parts in ventilator. The preventing infection measures of sputum suction and nebulization were summarized. CONCLUSIONS The preventing infection measures of COVID-19 patients during mechanical ventilation are successfully completed, which can provide suggestions for the application and maintenance of mechanical ventilation.
Betacoronavirus ; COVID-19 ; Coronavirus Infections/therapy* ; Humans ; Infection Control/methods* ; Pandemics/prevention & control* ; Pneumonia, Viral/therapy* ; Respiration, Artificial ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Ventilators, Mechanical

Antibodies, Viral ; blood ; Betacoronavirus ; immunology ; Coronavirus Infections ; diagnosis ; Gold Colloid ; chemistry ; Humans ; Immunoassay ; methods ; Immunoglobulin G ; blood ; Immunoglobulin M ; blood ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral ; diagnosis ; Reagent Kits, Diagnostic

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Betacoronavirus ; Coronavirus Infections ; complications ; Female ; Glomerular Filtration Rate ; Glycosuria ; epidemiology ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Hyponatremia ; epidemiology ; Kidney Tubules, Proximal ; physiopathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral ; complications ; Retrospective Studies

Betacoronavirus ; China ; epidemiology ; Coronavirus Infections ; prevention & control ; Disease Outbreaks ; Emergencies ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Internet ; Pandemics ; prevention & control ; Pneumonia, Viral ; prevention & control

2019 novel coronavirus(2019-nCoV) has occurred for 2 months, and seriously affected the people's health in the world. Therefore, scientific prevention and control strategies and effective intervention measures are the only ways to solve the world problem. In the determination of intervention measures, not only the effectiveness evaluation, but also accessibility, treatment cost, inventory and production capacity and other relevant sociological issues shall be considered, especially in low and middle-income countries and regions. With the introduction of clinical epidemiological experiment design and evidence-based medicine evidence evaluation into the evaluation of curative effect of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM), TCM has officially entered the studies of syndrome regularity of new public health emergencies(such as SARS and influenza) clearly diagnosed by modern medicine for many years, as well as the development of relevant guidelines, consensus and paths. The results of curative effect show that TCM could significantly alleviate symptoms, control disease and tendency, reduce the occurrence of critical illness, and improve the clinical efficacy and the prognosis and quality of life of patients, which fully reflects the consciousness and self-confidence of traditional Chinese medicine workers. For the evidence-based evaluation of TCM intervention in new public health emergencies, the basic principles and general methods of clinical epidemiology and evidence-based medicine shall be followed to obtain high-quality evidence; besides, we shall also fully realize that clinical scientific study is carried out with the epidemic treatment as the primary task. The scientific hypothesis comes from the clinical problems unsolved. The scientific study conclusions aim to give feedbacks to clinical diagnosis and treatment regimens. The core elements of clinical trials are population(P), intervention(I), control(C), outcome(O), which are abbreviated as "PICO". The evaluation of intervention measures for new public health emergencies with traditional Chinese medicine shall have clear study objectives and a high quality, with a correct analysis method as the guarantee of real and reliable results. Then, the selection of patients, the de-finition of intervention measures and control measures, the development of end-point indicators, the clinical quality control under special epidemics, the data verification, and the data analysis methods to be adopted are all characteristics and key points that need special consideration. It is suggested that scientific experimental design, rigorous collection and scientific data analysis shall be conducted to reflect the therapeutic value of traditional Chinese medicine, so that the study results could be adopted and shared, and become the scientific evidence for China and even the global to republish the diagnosis and treatment regimens.
Betacoronavirus ; China ; Coronavirus Infections ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Emergencies ; Evidence-Based Medicine ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral ; Public Health ; Quality of Life

High-quality clinical study on traditional Chinese medicine is of great significance to effectively control new public health emergencies represented by outbreaks of infectious diseases and ensure people's health and safety, but it still faces a series of ethical issues. Based on the seven core values of equity, good deeds, effectiveness, respect for individuals, freedom, reciprocity, and solida-rity proposed in the Guidelines for Management of Ethical Issues in Outbreaks of Infectious Diseases, this article emphasizes the characteristics and laws of clinical studies on traditional Chinese medicine. Main points of ethical review of traditional Chinese medicine were summarized in the aspects of overall concept, syndrome differentiation and treatment, prevention before disease onset, cultural value, and clinical basis. Based on the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19), we collected relevant registered Chinese medicine clinical studies, summarized the core issues of the ethics review for COVID-19, and further improved the traditional Chinese medicine ethics review system and resources, so as to better serve ethical review and scientific studies in public health emergencies.
Betacoronavirus ; Coronavirus Infections ; Emergencies ; Ethical Review ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral ; Public Health

Because coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) is highly contagious and serious, it has posed a major threat to public health worldwide. The curative effects of integrated traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine in the treatment of COVID-19 have been widely recognized and confirmed. However, medical workers shall pay attention to drug-induced heart injury in clinical application. Based on the guideline from the Diagnosis and Treatment Plans for COVID-19(trial seventh edition), taking the recommended drugs as examples, by Western medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese herbal injection and integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine, the study analyzed the basic characteristics of recommended drugs for cardiac injury by means of literature review and bioinformatics methods, and summarized cardiac adverse reactions, toxicity mechanisms, combined pharmacotherapy, special population and drug monitoring, focusing on the clinical manifestations, toxic components, targets and regulatory mechanisms of drug-induced cardiac injury. The findings suggested being vigilant to drug-induced cardiac injury during the treatment of COVID-19, playing the advantages of clinical pharmacists and clinical Chinese pharmacists, improving the knowledge reserve of pharmacovigilance, strengthening the prescription review, medication notification and medication monitoring, promoting rational drug use and paying attention to special populations and high-risk groups. The study aims to provide suggestions and reference for pharmacovigilance and pharmaceutical care for front-line doctors and pharmacists against COVID-19, in order to avoid the occurrence of drug-induced heart injury for patients with COVID-19.
Betacoronavirus ; Cardiotoxicity ; Coronavirus Infections ; drug therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Heart Injuries ; chemically induced ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Pandemics ; Pharmacovigilance ; Pneumonia, Viral

In December 2019, an outbreak of viral pneumonia began in Wuhan, Hubei Province, which caused the spread of infectious pneumonia to a certain extent in China and neighboring countries and regions, and triggered the epidemic crisis. The coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) is an acute respiratory infectious disease listed as a B infectious disease, which is managed according to standards for A infectious disease. Traditional Chinese medicine and integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine have played an active role in the prevention and control of this epidemic. China's ethnomedicine has recognized infectious diseases since ancient times, and formed a medical system including theory, therapies, formula and herbal medicines for such diseases. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, Tibet Autonomous Region, Qinghai Province, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Chuxiong Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan, Qiandongnan Autonomous Prefecture of Guizhou have issued the prevention and control programs for COVID-19 using Tibetan, Mongolian, Uygur, Yi and Miao medicines. These programs reflect the wisdom of ethnomedicine in preventing and treating diseases, which have successfully extracted prescriptions and preventive measures for the outbreak of the epidemic from their own medical theories and traditional experiences. In this paper, we summarized and explained the prescriptions and medicinal materials of ethnomedicine in these programs, and the origin of Tibetan medicine prescriptions and Mongolian medicine prescriptions in ancient books were studied. These become the common characteristics of medical prevention and treatment programs for ethnomedicine to formulate therapeutic programs under the guidance of traditional medicine theories, recommend prescriptions and prevention and treatment methods with characteristics of ethnomedicine, and focus on the conve-nience and standardization. However, strengthening the support of science and technology and the popularization to the public, and improving the participation of ethnomedicine in national public health services and the capacity-building to deal with sudden and critical diseases are key contents in the development of ethnomedicine in the future.
Betacoronavirus ; China ; Coronavirus Infections ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Medicine, Traditional ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral ; drug therapy ; Tibet