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

Recently a COVID-19 pneumonia pandemic caused by a novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV has broken out over the world. In order to better control the spread of the pandemic, there's an urgent need to extensively study the virus' origin and the mechanisms for its infectivity and pathogenicity. Spike protein is a special structural protein on the surface of coronavirus. It contains important information about the evolution of the virus and plays critical roles in the processes of cellular recognition and entry. In the past decades, spike protein has always been one of the most important objects in research works on coronaviruses closely related to human life. In this review we introduce these research works related to spike proteins, hoping it will provide reasonable ideas for the control of the current pandemic, as well as for the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19.
Betacoronavirus ; Coronavirus Infections ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Evolution, Molecular ; Humans ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus ; analysis

The SARS-CoV-2 has been spread to 26 countries around the world since its outbreak. By February 16, 2020, more than 68 000 people had been diagnosed with COVID-19. Researchers from all over the world have carried out timely studies on this public health emergency and produced a number of scientific publications. This review aims to re-analyze and summarize the current research findings in a timely manner to guide scholars in relevant fields to further SARS-CoV-2 research and assist healthcare professionals in their work and decision-making. The SARS-CoV-2 related terms were selected in both English and Chinese and were searched in several major databases, including Pubmed, Web of Science, CNKI, Wanfang, and VIP databases. The reference list of each search result was screened for relevance, which was further supplemented to the search results. The included studies were categorized by topics with key characteristics extracted, re-analyzed, and summarized. A total of 301 articles were finally included with 136 in Chinese and 165 in English. The number of publications has rapidly increased since mid-January, 2020, and a peak day was 6th February on which 50 articles were published. The top three countries publishing articles were China, the United States and the United Kingdom. The and its specialty journals have published the most articles, with contribution also from journals such as ( ), ( ), and . All articles were categorized into epidemiology, clinical diagnosis and treatment, basic research, pregnant women and children, mental health, epidemic prevention & control, and others. The literatures related to SARS-CoV-2 are emerging rapidly. It is necessary to sort out and summarize the research topic in time, which has a good reference value for staff in different positions. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the judgment of the quality of literatures.
Betacoronavirus ; Bibliometrics ; Biomedical Research ; trends ; China ; Coronavirus Infections ; Humans ; Pandemics ; Periodicals as Topic ; Pneumonia, Viral ; United Kingdom ; United States

Compared with normal medical consumables, the management of epidemic prevention consumables in response to COVID-19 is special. Based on the practical management experience of a hospital in Shanghai, this article expounds through various aspects such as classified protection requirements, interpretation of domestic and foreign standards for epidemic prevention consumables, targeted use countermeasures, material supply of Hubei medical teams, and the management of inbound and outbound of epidemic prevention consumables, covering the whole process of epidemic prevention consumables management. The purpose of this paper is to provide ideas and references for the management of epidemic prevention materials.
Betacoronavirus ; China ; Coronavirus Infections ; epidemiology ; prevention & control ; therapy ; Epidemics ; Hospitals ; Humans ; Pandemics ; prevention & control ; Pneumonia, Viral ; epidemiology ; prevention & control ; therapy

This study summarized the determination methods and principles of 2019 novel coronavirus(severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2,SARS-CoV-2). The advantages and limitations of several methods was compared, which can provide a basis for the selection of 2019 novel coronavirus clinical diagnosis methods.
Betacoronavirus ; Clinical Laboratory Techniques ; Coronavirus Infections ; diagnosis ; Humans ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral ; diagnosis

Since December 2019, a series of highly infectious cases of unexplained pneumonia have been discovered in Wuhan, Hubei Province, which have been confirmed as '2019 corona virus disease' caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). SARS-CoV-2 virus can invade many human systems including the lungs. Patients with central nervous system involvement may show a series of neurological symptoms, which is easy to be misdiagnosed and neglected, thereby increasing the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Hereditary ataxia is a large group of neurodegenerative diseases with great clinical and genetic heterogeneity and high mortality and disability. In view of the seriousness of the COVID-19 epidemic, a series of prevention and control measures adopted by the government have restricted the follow-up, diagnosis and treatment of patients by the hospitals, which has a great impact on their mental and physical health. In order to standardize the management of patients during the prevention and control of COVID-19 epidemic, the Specialized Committee of Neurogenetics of the Neurophysician Branch of Chinese Medical Doctor Association has formulated this consensus, with an aim to help patients to overcome the difficulties and pass the epidemic prevention period safely.
Betacoronavirus ; China ; epidemiology ; Consensus ; Coronavirus Infections ; complications ; epidemiology ; Epidemics ; Health Status ; Humans ; Mental Health ; Nervous System Diseases ; virology ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral ; complications ; epidemiology ; Spinocerebellar Degenerations ; complications ; diagnosis ; prevention & control ; therapy

Objective To compare the similarities and differences of early CT manifestations of three types of viral pneumonia induced by SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), SARS-CoV (SARS) and MERS-CoV (MERS) using a systemic review. Methods Electronic database were searched to identify all original articles and case reports presenting chest CT features for adult patients with COVID-19, SARS and MERS pneumonia respectively. Quality of literature and completeness of presented data were evaluated by consensus reached by three radiologists. Vote-counting method was employed to include cases of each group. Data of patients' manifestations in early chest CT including lesion patterns, distribution of lesions and specific imaging signs for the three groups were extracted and recorded. Data were compared and analyzed using SPSS 22.0. Results A total of 24 studies were included, composing of 10 studies of COVID-19, 5 studies of MERS and 9 studies of SARS. The included CT exams were 147, 40, and 122 respectively. For the early CT features of the 3 pneumonias, the basic lesion pattern with respect to "mixed ground glass opacity (GGO) and consolidation, GGO mainly, or consolidation mainly" was similar among the 3 groups (=7.966, >0.05). There were no significant differences on the lesion distribution (=13.053, >0.05) and predominate involvement of the subpleural area of bilateral lower lobes (=4.809, >0.05) among the 3 groups. The lesions appeared more focal in COVID-19 pneumonia at early phase (=23.509, <0.05). The proportions of crazy-paving pattern (=23.037, <0.001), organizing pneumonia pattern (<0.05) and pleural effusions (<0.001) in COVID-19 pneumonia were significantly lower than the other two. Although rarely shown in the early CT findings of all three viral pneumonias, the fibrotic changes were more frequent in SARS than COVID-19 and MERS (=6.275, <0.05). For other imaging signs, only the MERS pneumonia demonstrated tree-in-buds, cavitation, and its incidence rate of interlobular or intralobular septal thickening presented significantly increased as compared to the other two pneumonia (=22.412, <0.05). No pneumothorax, pneumomediastinum and lymphadenopathy was present for each group. Conclusions Imaging findings on early stage of these three coronavirus pneumonias showed similar basic lesion patterns, including GGO and consolidation, bilateral distribution, and predominant involvement of the subpleural area and the lower lobes. Early signs of COVID-19 pneumonia showed less severity of inflammation. Early fibrotic changes appeared in SARS only. MERS had more severe inflammatory changes including cavitation and pleural effusion. The differences may indicate the specific pathophysiological processes for each coronavirus pneumonia.
Betacoronavirus ; Coronavirus Infections ; diagnostic imaging ; Humans ; Lung ; diagnostic imaging ; Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral ; diagnostic imaging ; SARS Virus ; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ; diagnostic imaging ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

OBJECTIVE: To study the working experience of COVID-19 care nurses. METHODS: Twenty two nurses taking care of COVID-19 patients were interviewed by means of descriptive phenomenology. All the data were transcribed and recorded, and then processed into WORD documents. The Colaizzi 7 footwork was used to classify, encode, establish nodes and extract themes based on Nvivo11.0 software. RESULTS: Two main themes were extracted: one is the positive feelings of nurses, including the sense of professional mission and pride, the sense of achievement and happiness, the improvement of self-worth and ability, the powerful support system and the power of role models; the other is the negative experience of nurses, including the worry and anxiety at work, the lack of experience and trust, the difficulty of work, and the inconvenience of isolating life. CONCLUSIONS s While fully affirming the work value of nurses, it is necessary for the society, hospitals and patients to give extensive and continuous support, care and respect to nurses, so as to stimulate their working enthusiasm and sense of professional achievement. Hospital managers need to implement all kinds of security work, meet the safety needs of nurses, pay attention to the physical and mental health of nurses, strengthen the training of nursing talents for critical and severe diseases and infectious diseases, improve the allocation of human resources, and enhance the ability of material allocation and reserve for major health events, so as to make adequate preparations for coping with public health events in the future.
Betacoronavirus ; Coronavirus Infections ; Hospitals ; statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Nurses ; statistics & numerical data ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral ; Qualitative Research ; Workplace ; statistics & numerical data

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the psychological and behavior status of minor children of medical staff in Hubei province during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic. METHODS: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted through WeChat from March 13 to 15, 2020, which included a general data questionnaire and Conners parental assessment questionnaire (PSQ). The questionnaires received from outside of Hubei province were excluded through IP address, and the questionnaires with answer time <150 s were also excluded. The influence of parental work status on the psychological behavior was analyzed in children of different age groups. RESULTS: A total of 391 valid questionnaires were collected, there were 207 males (52.9%) and 184 females (47.1%); 91 (23.3%) aged 3 to 6, 183 (46.8%) aged 6 to 10, and 117 (29.9%) aged 10 to 16. Both parents were medical staff in 87 participants(22.3%), one parent was medical staff in 139(35.5%) participants, and no parents were medical staff in 165 (42.2%) participants. In 3-<6 years group, there was no significant difference in the PSQ scores of the children in each factor level (all >0.05) between children with parents as medical staff and those without. In 6-<10 years group, children with both parents as medical staff had higher hyperactivity-impulse factor score, learning problem factor score and total score than those without parents as medical staff (all <0.05), while they had higher learning problem factor score than those with one parent as medical staff (<0.05); the anxiety score of children with one or both parents as medical staff was higher than that of those without parents as medical staff (all <0.05). In 10 to 16 years group, the behavior problems, learning problems, hyperactivity-impulse, more dynamic index and the total score in children with one parent as medical staff were lower than those with both parents as medical staff or without parents as medical staff (<0.05 or <0.01); while there were no significant differences in psychosomatic problems, anxiety factor scores between children with one parent as medical staff and other two groups (all >0.05). CONCLUSIONS s During COVID-19 epidemic period, the psychological and behavior status of minor children of Hubei medical staff with different ages shows differences with those without parents as medical staff, particularly in 6-<10 years and 10 to 16 year groups. It is necessary to pay attention to the psychological and behavioral status of children of medical staff in these age groups.
Adolescent ; Betacoronavirus ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Coronavirus ; Coronavirus Infections ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Medical Staff ; statistics & numerical data ; Mental Health ; statistics & numerical data ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVE: To early differentiate between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and adult mycoplasma pneumonia with chest CT scan. METHODS: Twenty-six patients with COVID-19 and 21 patients with adult mycoplasma pneumonia confirmed with RT-PCR test were enrolled from Zibo First Hospital and Lanshan People's Hospital during December 1st 2019 and March 14th 2020. The early chest CT manifestations were analyzed and compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The interstitial changes with ground glass density shadow (GGO) were similar in two groups during first chest CT examination (>0.05). There were more lung lobes involved on the first chest CT in COVID-19 patients, which were mostly distributed in the dorsal outer zone (23/26, 88.5%), and nearly half of them (12/26, 46.2%) were accompanied by crazy-paving sign; while the lesions in adult mycoplasma pneumonia patients were mostly distributed along the bronchi, and the bronchial wall was thickened (19/21, 90.5%), accompanied with tree buds / fog signs (19/21, 90.5%). The above CT signs were significantly different between the two kinds of pneumonia (all <0.01). COVID-19 had a longer course compared with mycoplasma pneumonia, the disease peaks of COVID-19 patients was on day (10.5±3.8), while the disease on CT was almost absorbed on day (7.9±2.2) in adult mycoplasma pneumonia. The length of hospital stay in COVID-19 patients was significantly longer than that of mycoplasma pneumonia patients [(19.5±4.3) d vs (7.9±2.2) d, <0.01]. CONCLUSIONS The lesions of adult mycoplasma pneumonia are mostly distributed along the bronchi with tree buds/fog signs, while the lesions of COVID-19 are mainly distributed in the dorsal outer zone accompanied by crazy-paving sign, which can early distinguish two diseases.
Adult ; Betacoronavirus ; Clinical Laboratory Techniques ; standards ; Coronavirus Infections ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Humans ; Lung ; diagnostic imaging ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Mycoplasma ; diagnostic imaging ; Pneumonia, Viral ; diagnostic imaging ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed