Clinical Characteristics of 254 COVID-19 Inpatients in Yichang, Hubei, China, and Efficacy of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine Treatment

INTRODUCTION: There is no effective treatment plan for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We employed a combination of Chinese and Western medicine treatment for some COVID-19 inpatients. METHODS: This study was a prospective cohort study that observed non-critical COVID-19 inpatients. The differences will be observed in the time from admission to two consecutive 2019-nCoV nucleic acid test negatives and the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) score between the two groups. RESULTS: A total of 254 confirmed COVID-19 patients were included in this study. The median time from the admission to two consecutive negative nucleic acid tests was 14 days for the integrated Chinese and Western Medicine (ICWM) group, while the Western Medicine (WM) group was 16 days. Besides, the median VAS score of the ICWM group was 0, which was an average decrease of 2 points compared to the time of admission. CONCLUSION: For non-critical COVID-19 patients, it was safe and have more benefits to add traditional Chinese medicine decoction based on WM treatment.