Clinical effect of Traditional Chinese Medicine Shenhuang Granule in critically ill patients with COVID-19: a single-centered, retrospective, observational study.

Feng, Jun; Fang, Bangjiang; Zhou, Daixing; Wang, Junshuai; Zou, Dengxiu; Yu, Gang; Fen, Yikuan; Peng, Dan; Hu, Jifa; Zhan, Daqian

The corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has become a public health emergency of global concern. In china, Traditional Chinese medicine has been widely administered to COVID-19 patients without sufficient evidence. To evaluate the efficacy of Shenhuang Granule (SHG) for treating critically ill patients with COVID-19, 118 patients admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) of Tongji hospital between January 28, 2020 and March 28, 2020 were included in this study, of whom 33 (27.9%) received standard care plus SHG (treatment group) and 85 (72.1%) received standard care alone (control group) . Enrolled patients had a median (IQR) age of 68 (57-75) years, and most (79 [67.1%]) were men. At end point of this study, 83 (70.3%) had died in ICU, 29 (24.5%) had been discharged from ICU, and 6 patients (5.2%) were still in ICU. Compared with control group, mortality was significantly lower in treatment group (45.4% vs 80%, P < .001). Patients in treatment group were less likely to develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) (12 [36.3%] vs 54 [63.5%], P=0.012) and cardiac injury (5 [15.1%] vs 32 [37.6%], P=0.026), and less likely to receive mechanical ventilation (22 [66.7%] vs 72 [84.7%], p = 0.028) than those in control group. The Median time from ICU admission to discharge was shorter in treatment group (32 [20-73] days vs 76 [63-79] days, P=0.0074). These findings suggest that SHG treatment as a complementary therapy might be effective for critically ill adults with COVID-19 and warrant further clinical trials.