Department of Medical Acupuncture, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia/Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo National Central Public Hospital, Jakarta, Indonesia.
Department of Histology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.
J Acupunct Meridian Stud. 2022 Aug 31;15(4):247-254. doi: 10.51507/j.jams.2022.15.4.247.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that can induce cytokine storm. To this point, no specific drug has been effective for curing COVID-19.
The aim of this study was to determine the effects of a combination of acupuncture intervention and pharmacologic treatment in hospitalized COVID-19 patients with mild-moderate symptoms.
A single-blinded randomized controlled clinical trial of hospitalized COVID-19 patients confirmed by RT-PCR examination with mild-moderate symptoms was conducted from August to September 2020. Participants were assigned to the treatment group (receiving pharmacologic treatment and manual acupuncture intervention) or the control group (receiving only pharmacologic treatment). Laboratory outcomes, including complete blood count, C-reactive protein (CRP) and ferritin levels, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), were measured before and after the intervention. For clinical outcomes, we evaluated the duration of the cough symptom.
We found that participants in the treatment group had a shorter duration of the cough symptom compared to the control group, and the difference was statistically significant. In the treatment group, we found an increase in the percentage of lymphocyte count and ESR, while in the control group, both parameters were decreased; however, the differences were not statistically significant. There was a decrease in the mean of CRP and ferritin levels in both groups, and the differences were not statistically significant.
Our study has shown promising results for the effects of combined treatment of acupuncture and pharmacologic treatment on the duration of the cough symptom in hospitalized COVID-19 patients with mild-moderate symptoms. Further large-scale studies with rigorous design are needed to examine these preliminary results.
新型冠状病毒病（COVID-19）是一种由冠状病毒（SARS-CoV-2）引起的传染病，可诱发细胞因子风暴。到目前为止，还没有专门用于治疗 COVID-19 的特效药物。
本研究旨在评估针灸干预联合药物治疗对住院的 COVID-19 轻症患者的疗效。
这是一项于 2020 年 8 月至 9 月期间针对经 RT-PCR 检测确诊的 COVID-19 轻症住院患者开展的单盲随机对照临床试验。参与者被分配到治疗组（接受药物治疗和手动针刺干预）或对照组（仅接受药物治疗）。在干预前后测量实验室结果，包括全血细胞计数、C 反应蛋白（CRP）和铁蛋白水平以及红细胞沉降率（ESR）。在临床结局方面，我们评估了咳嗽症状的持续时间。
与对照组相比，治疗组的咳嗽症状持续时间更短，差异具有统计学意义。在治疗组中，我们发现淋巴细胞计数和 ESR 的百分比增加，而在对照组中，这两个参数均降低；然而，差异无统计学意义。两组的 CRP 和铁蛋白水平均值均降低，差异无统计学意义。
我们的研究结果表明，针刺联合药物治疗对住院的 COVID-19 轻症患者的咳嗽症状持续时间具有潜在的治疗效果。需要进一步开展设计严谨的大规模研究来检验这些初步结果。
