Kim Tae-Hun, Jeon Sae-Rom, Kang Jung Won, Kwon Sunoh
Korean Medicine Clinical Trial Center, Korean Medicine Hospital, Kyung Hee University, 23 Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02447, Republic of Korea.
Department of Acupuncture & Moxibustion, College of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University, 23 Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02447, Republic of Korea.
Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2022 Aug 4;2022:7303393. doi: 10.1155/2022/7303393. eCollection 2022.
Prolonged symptoms after the clearance of acute coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, termed long COVID, are an emerging threat to the post-COVID-19 era. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) interventions may play a significant role in the management of long COVID. The present study aimed to identify published studies on the use of CAM interventions for long COVID and provide an overview of the research status using bibliometric analysis. The present scoping review searched MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane Library from inception until November 2021 and identified published studies on CAM interventions for long COVID. A narrative analysis of the study types and effectiveness and safety of the CAM interventions are presented and a bibliometric analysis of citation information and references of the included publications were analyzed using the Bibliometrix package for R. An electronic database search identified 16 publications (2 clinical studies and 14 study protocols of systematic reviews or clinical studies) that were included in the present study. Dyspnea or pulmonary dysfunction, quality of life, olfactory dysfunction, and psychological symptoms after COVID-19 infection were assessed in the included publications. The two clinical studies suggested that Chinese herbal medications were effective in relieving symptoms of pulmonary dysfunction. Bibliometric analysis revealed the current trend of research publication in this area was driven by study protocols written by Chinese, Korean, and Indian authors. Thus, the present scoping review and bibliometric analysis revealed that there are few studies published about the use of CAM for long COVID and long-term management for COVID-19 survivors. Original studies on CAM interventions, including randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews, are required to actively support evidence for their use in the management of long COVID. PROSPERO registration: this trial is registered with CRD42021281526.
2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）急性感染清除后的长期症状，即所谓的“长新冠”，是后COVID-19时代新出现的威胁。补充和替代医学（CAM）干预措施可能在“长新冠”的管理中发挥重要作用。本研究旨在识别已发表的关于使用CAM干预措施治疗“长新冠”的研究，并通过文献计量分析概述研究现状。本范围综述检索了从创刊至2021年11月的MEDLINE、Embase和Cochrane图书馆，识别了已发表的关于使用CAM干预措施治疗“长新冠”的研究。对研究类型以及CAM干预措施的有效性和安全性进行了叙述性分析，并使用R语言的Bibliometrix软件包对纳入出版物的引用信息和参考文献进行了文献计量分析。电子数据库检索确定了16篇出版物（2项临床研究以及14项系统评价或临床研究的研究方案）纳入本研究。纳入的出版物评估了COVID-19感染后的呼吸困难或肺功能障碍、生活质量、嗅觉功能障碍和心理症状。两项临床研究表明，中药在缓解肺功能障碍症状方面有效。文献计量分析显示，该领域当前的研究发表趋势是由中国、韩国和印度作者撰写的研究方案推动的。因此，本范围综述和文献计量分析表明，关于使用CAM治疗“长新冠”以及对COVID-19幸存者进行长期管理的研究发表较少。需要开展关于CAM干预措施的原始研究，包括随机对照试验和系统评价，以积极支持其用于“长新冠”管理的证据。PROSPERO注册：本试验已在CRD42021281526注册。
