Clinical Retrospective Study on the Efficacy of Qingfei Paidu Decoction Combined with Western Medicine for COVID-19 Treatment

Abstract Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) 2 has emerged as a global pandemic. However, as effective treatments for this disease are still unclear, safe and efficient therapies are urgently needed. Qingfei Paidu decoction (QPD) 3 is strongly recommended in the Chinese Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Diagnosis and Treatment Plan (Provisional 6th Edition). However, clinical research data on the effects of QPD on COVID-19 are scarce. Our study aimed to explore the effects of combined treatment with QPD and Western medicine on COVID-19. Methods In this study, 63 patients with confirmed COVID-19 were analyzed. During the first 14 days of hospitalization, patients with deteriorating symptoms were administered QPD along with Western medicine therapy (the antiviral medicine selected from interferon, lopinavir, or arbidol). The clinical characteristics and blood laboratory indices (blood routine, inflammatory factors, and multi-organ biochemical indices) were examined, and the total lung severity scores were evaluated in each patient by reviewing chest computed tomography before treatment and at the end of treatment. Results Before QPD treatment, the combined treatment group showed higher blood C-reactive protein levels and more severe pulmonary inflammation and clinical symptoms than the Western medicine treatment group. Both groups met the discharge criteria after a similar length of hospitalization. At the end of treatment, circulating white blood cells, total lymphocyte count, and glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase levels improved dramatically in both groups (P  0.05). Conclusion The combination of QPD with Western medicine demonstrated significant anti-inflammatory effects compared with those of only Western medicine in patients with mild and moderate COVID-19; however, neither mortality nor length of hospitalization was affected. Moreover, the combined treatment tended to mitigate the extent of multi-organ impairment. Long-term randomized controlled trials with follow-up evaluations are required to confirm the results presented here.