Traditional Chinese medicine for the COVID-19 pandemic: an online cross-sectional survey among health care workers
Traditional Chinese medicine for the COVID-19 pandemic: an online cross-sectional survey among health care workers
Introduction: during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, health care workers (HCWs) faced a heightened risk of infection. Preventative measures are critical to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and protect HCWs. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been recommended to prevent and treat COVID-19 in China. We conducted this survey to investigate the use of infection control behaviors, preventative and therapeutic interventions, and outcomes among HCWs during the surge of Omicron variant COVID-19 infections to explore the association of preventative measures with outcomes and to investigate the factors influencing the adoption of TCM as a preventative measure.
Methods: the questionnaire consisted of 23 sections with 154 questions for HCWs. The targeted respondents comprised all HCWs from Xiamen Hospital Affiliated of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. The recruitment process was open between March 17 and June 1, 2022. Chi-square test was used to estimate the relationship between prevention and outcomes. Multivariable logistic regression was used to investigate factors influencing the use of TCM as a preventative measure.
Results: among the 1122 participants who completed the questionnaire, 79.71% took preventative measures, including TCM (56.21%), physical activities (52.37%) and food supplements (26.99%). Xiamen preventative formula (a government-approved fixed prescription) (45.22%) and Lianhua Qingwen preparations (18.95%) were the most commonly used Chinese medicines. Thirty-six participants reported flu-like symptoms and three were diagnosed with COVID-19. Flu-like symptoms were not associated with prevention, vaccination, or TCM. Frontline working experience (OR = 0.61, 95% CI: 0.46–0.80), good knowledge of post-COVID-19 syndrome (OR = 0.57, 95% CI: 0.39–0.84), Western medicine qualifications (OR = 2.41, 95% CI: 1.51–3.86), being a nurse (OR = 1.70, 95% CI: 1.21–2.40), or medical technician (OR = 2.27, 95% CI: 1.25–4.10) were associated with the willingness to use TCM as a preventative measure.
Conclusion: complementary medicine, especially TCM, could be used for COVID-19 prevention. Knowledge of COVID-19 may prompt people to use TCM to prevent COVID-19. Multicenter studies and prospective cohort follow-up studies are needed to provide further insights into the use of TCM for COVID-19 management.
Chinese herbs, Complementary therapy, Healthcare personnel, Non-pharmacological intervention, Omicron variant, Retrospective treatment outcome
Jin, Xinyan
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Xu, Leqin
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Lu, Chunli
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Xue, Xue
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Liu, Xuehan
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Zhou, Yuzhen
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Hu, Xiaoyang
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Liu, Jianping
37712d9a-587a-48e0-a92d-084dced87ab0
Pei, Xiaohua
9609123e-d29d-4fd3-9210-258e73c72be1
August 2023
Jin, Xinyan
31bcf3d1-bee1-4f1b-a6b9-408cdd5e33e2
Xu, Leqin
e5be0a1b-f1ff-4dbc-9525-c4e20b67bacb
Lu, Chunli
794bb5fb-fa37-488c-b3db-5db2c2aa8568
Xue, Xue
c3f808df-a82b-437d-85d4-97b32eede0be
Liu, Xuehan
42c3a8fc-6a8f-49ea-b8cd-46e0a39f53cb
Zhou, Yuzhen
861a1c67-5b01-4251-b1d3-01d694c2f8ac
Hu, Xiaoyang
65904b24-3775-4b14-9532-eb703a056655
Liu, Jianping
37712d9a-587a-48e0-a92d-084dced87ab0
Pei, Xiaohua
9609123e-d29d-4fd3-9210-258e73c72be1
Jin, Xinyan, Xu, Leqin, Lu, Chunli, Xue, Xue, Liu, Xuehan, Zhou, Yuzhen, Hu, Xiaoyang, Liu, Jianping and Pei, Xiaohua
(2023)
Traditional Chinese medicine for the COVID-19 pandemic: an online cross-sectional survey among health care workers.
European Journal of Integrative Medicine, 61, [102273].
(doi:10.1016/j.eujim.2023.102273).
Abstract
Introduction: during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, health care workers (HCWs) faced a heightened risk of infection. Preventative measures are critical to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and protect HCWs. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been recommended to prevent and treat COVID-19 in China. We conducted this survey to investigate the use of infection control behaviors, preventative and therapeutic interventions, and outcomes among HCWs during the surge of Omicron variant COVID-19 infections to explore the association of preventative measures with outcomes and to investigate the factors influencing the adoption of TCM as a preventative measure.
Methods: the questionnaire consisted of 23 sections with 154 questions for HCWs. The targeted respondents comprised all HCWs from Xiamen Hospital Affiliated of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. The recruitment process was open between March 17 and June 1, 2022. Chi-square test was used to estimate the relationship between prevention and outcomes. Multivariable logistic regression was used to investigate factors influencing the use of TCM as a preventative measure.
Results: among the 1122 participants who completed the questionnaire, 79.71% took preventative measures, including TCM (56.21%), physical activities (52.37%) and food supplements (26.99%). Xiamen preventative formula (a government-approved fixed prescription) (45.22%) and Lianhua Qingwen preparations (18.95%) were the most commonly used Chinese medicines. Thirty-six participants reported flu-like symptoms and three were diagnosed with COVID-19. Flu-like symptoms were not associated with prevention, vaccination, or TCM. Frontline working experience (OR = 0.61, 95% CI: 0.46–0.80), good knowledge of post-COVID-19 syndrome (OR = 0.57, 95% CI: 0.39–0.84), Western medicine qualifications (OR = 2.41, 95% CI: 1.51–3.86), being a nurse (OR = 1.70, 95% CI: 1.21–2.40), or medical technician (OR = 2.27, 95% CI: 1.25–4.10) were associated with the willingness to use TCM as a preventative measure.
Conclusion: complementary medicine, especially TCM, could be used for COVID-19 prevention. Knowledge of COVID-19 may prompt people to use TCM to prevent COVID-19. Multicenter studies and prospective cohort follow-up studies are needed to provide further insights into the use of TCM for COVID-19 management.
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Accepted/In Press date: 23 June 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 27 June 2023
Published date: August 2023
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
This research was also supported by National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (2022ZYLCYJ09-03) and Anhui Province Key research and development programs (2022e070020073). Jianping Liu, Chunli Lu, Xinyan Jin, and Xuehan Liu were supported by Innovation Team and Talents Cultivation Program of National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (No: ZYYCXTD-C-202006).
We gratefully acknowledge the retrospective treatment outcomes of COVID-19 (RTO–COVID-19) project for survey development. We gratefully acknowledge Dr. Ning Dai and Ms. Ruoxiang Zheng (center for Evidence-Based Chinese Medicine, BUCM) for survey pre-testing and Mr. Xiaohui Lu (Department of Research and Education, Xiamen Hospital) for survey dissemination. Special thanks to all participants in this survey.
Keywords:
Chinese herbs, Complementary therapy, Healthcare personnel, Non-pharmacological intervention, Omicron variant, Retrospective treatment outcome
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 481357
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/481357
ISSN: 1876-3820
PURE UUID: ef17376e-aa59-46a3-b7a2-ac4787aba6dd
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Date deposited: 23 Aug 2023 17:06
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 03:34
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Contributors
Author:
Xinyan Jin
Author:
Leqin Xu
Author:
Chunli Lu
Author:
Xue Xue
Author:
Xuehan Liu
Author:
Yuzhen Zhou
Author:
Jianping Liu
Author:
Xiaohua Pei
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