Add-on Ayurveda Treatment for Early Stage COVID-19: A Single Center Retrospective Cohort Study From Gujarat, India

Abstract

The retrospective cohort study aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes of Ayurveda treatment exposure as an add-on to conventional care in early stage COVID-19 patients admitted at Samaras COVID care center, Ahmedabad, India. Conventional care included Vitamin-c, Azithromycin, and Paracetamol. Ayurveda formulations used as add-on were Dashamula and Pathyadi decoctions along with Trikatu powder , Sanshamani tablet, AYUSH-64 tablet AND Yastimadhu Ghana tablet for oral administration. Considering Add-on Ayurveda medicines as exposure of interest, patients who received Add-on Ayurveda medicines at least for 7 days were included in the exposed group while those who received only conventional care in unexposed group. Data was collected through record review and telephonic interviews. The outcomes of interest were the development of symptoms, duration of symptomatic phase in those progressing to symptomatic stage and mortality. Total 762 participants were included-[541 (71%) in the exposed group and 221 (29%) in the unexposed. Progression to symptomatic phase did not differ significantly between groups [27.6% in exposed, 24.6% in unexposed, adjusted RR 0.85; 95% CI 0.6-1.2]. The total duration of symptomatic phase among those progressing to the symptomatic stage was significantly decreased in the exposed group (x¯ = 3.66 ± 1.55 days in exposed (n = 133); x¯ = 5.34 ± 3.35 days in unexposed (n = 61), p < 0.001). No mortality was observed in either of the groups. Ayurveda Treatment as adjunctive to conventional care reduced the duration of symptomatic phase in early stage COVID-19 as compared to standalone conventional care. Add-on Ayurveda treatment has promising potential for management of early stage COVID-19.

AYUSH interventions for COVID-19 - a living systematic review and meta-analysis [First report]

“…18,19,27 Out of 3 NRSIs, 1 study had a high risk of bias associated with the selection of participants and measurements of the outcomes 20 whereas other studies had some concerns (Figure 3). 21,28 No study had a low risk of bias in this systematic review. We also reported outcome wise risk of bias of the included studies and presented them in the supplementary file.…”

“…One report was excluded during the data extraction process, which used AYUSH interventions as a comparator, 16 finally 12 manuscripts were included. [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] Detail description of the study selection and elimination process has been depicted in figure 1. All the articles were in the English language only.…”

“…Among included studies of the therapeutic domain, 2 RCTs examined the benefit of AYUSH-64, 17,18 2 studies (1 RCT, 1 NRSI) of Guduchi Ghanavati, 19,20 each one RCT on different multiple Combinations of Ayurveda medicines (coded as AYUSH regimen-I, II, III, IV, V, VI, and VII). [21][22][23][24][25][26] AYUSH Regimen III and IV were examined in a single RCT. 23 In the prophylactic domain, 1 RCT reported the benefit of Chyawanprash 27 and 1 NRSI of Guduchi Ghanavati.…”

“…Four articles were peer-reviewed published manuscripts, 21,22,24,26 one was pre-proof,23 and seven were pre-print. [17][18][19][20]25,27,28 Among all, 6 studies were add-on AYUSH interventions studies 17,18,21,[24][25][26] and 6 were standalone interventions. 19,20,22,23,27,28 One study reported with placebo control 22 whereas eleven reported standard of care as a comparator.…”

AYUSH- 64: A potential therapeutic agent in COVID-19

“… 34 The immediate immune responses to COVID-19 are deregulation of central metabolism for mobilization of energy, cells and biomolecules. 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 This deregulation of central metabolism is called Amadosha (undigested byproducts of digestion and metabolism) in Ayurveda. Saptaparna and Katuki have Deepana and Pachana properties (enhancing digestion and metabolism) which clear the Amadosha .…”