Analysis on traditional Chinese medicine syndromes of 756 cases with Coronavirus disease 2019

Objective To explore the rule of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndromes of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients, providing guidance for clinical practice Methods The information and syndrome of 756 cases with COVID-19 in Guanggu Branch of Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital of Hubei Province were collected by cross sectional survey, the TCM syndrome differentiation was given by TCM experts, the syndrome characteristics were analyzed, and the relationships between syndromes and gender, age, course and severity of disease were analyzed Results Among the 756 cases, 101 cases (13 4%) were diagnosed as cold-dampness accumulating lung syndrome, 239 cases (31 6%) were diagnosed as dampness-heat obstructing lung syndrome, 18 cases (2 4%) were diagnosed as epidemic toxin blocking lung syndrome, 195 cases (25 8%) were diagnosed as deficiency of lung and spleen Qi, 203 cases (26 9%) were diagnosed as deficiency of both Qi and Yin The order of the median course of the TCM syndromes was: cold-dampness accumulating lung syndrome (21 d)dampness-heat obstructing lung syndrome (22 d)epidemic toxin blocking lung syndrome (27 d)both lung and spleen Qi deficiency syndrome (33 d)both Qi and Yin deficiency syndrome (36 d) There was no significant difference in syndrome distribution among different genders (P 0 05) The distribution of dampness-heat obstructing lung syndrome in patients over 65 years old was significantly lower than that in patients aged 65 and under (22 4% [69/308] vs 37 9%[170/448]), while the syndrome of deficiency of lung and spleen Qi (30 2%[93/308] vs 22 8%[102/448]) and the syndrome of both Qi and Yin deficiency (34 1%[105/308] vs 21 9%[98/448]) were just the opposite The distribution of the syndromes was correlated with the severity and the course of COVID-19 (P=0 01, P 0 01) The syndrome of colddampness accumulating lung was relatively common in the general cases (14 1%[86/612]), while the syndrome of epidemic toxin blocking lung was more common in the severe and critical cases (6 2%[9/144]) The syndrome of cold-dampness accumulating lung was most common in the early stage (26 2%[28/107]) of COVID-19 Dampness-heat obstructing lung syndrome was common in both the early (43 9%[47/107]) and the middle stages (42 0%[116/276]) The syndrome of both lung and spleen Qi deficiency and the syndrome of both Qi and Yin deficiency were more common in the middle (21 7% [60/276], 18 1%[50/276]) and late stages (31 1%[116/373], 38 1%[142/373]) Conclusion The syndromes of COVID-19 are mostly hot and excessive in its early stage and getting into deficiency with the progress of the disease And the syndromes are closely related to the age, severity and course of COVID-19 patients