Randomized placebo-controlled pilot clinical trial on the efficacy of ayurvedic treatment regime on COVID-19 positive patients
“The study included asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients only, therefore, clinical criteria could not be used to identify disease resolution, although, the exclusion and inclusion criteria put in place were followed in-principle.
Results of this trial cannot be generalized to the severe patients and patients with co-morbidities. As this is a pilot study, we engaged a small sample size. The sample size of 100 is a limitation with this study. However, the robustness of the observations obtained were verified through rigorous statistical analysis to make up for the small sample size”.
“SARS-CoV-2 already has a different mutation in circulation and several others have been predicted based on evolutionary benefits (Korber et al., 2020; Padhi and Tripathi, 2020). The kind of epidemiological demands that might arise in case a community transmission of a milder viral strain is swiftly followed by the appearance of a virulent one can be quite challenging. Therefore, a strategy to contain viral dissemination would be a much-preferred course of action. This study reports the first clinical trial done for Ayurvedic treatment for COVID-19. The main outcome of this study is a reduction in the time to recovery in response to the treatment and decreased fold changes in the serum levels of hs-CRP and pro-inflammatory markers, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α). The average level of serum TNF-α in treatment group after seven days of treatment was comparable to that observed in placebo and treatment groups on day 1, suggesting that the treatment had a moderating effect on this pro-inflammatory marker. Likewise, increase in serum level of IL-6 was also under control in the treatment group, indicating reduced likelihood of cytokine response syndrome. In addition, reduced hs-CRP level in the treatment group suggested healing against inflammation. Taken together, the Ayurvedic treatment regime facilitated expedited recovery from SARS-CoV-2 infection without any observed adverse effects. Thus, this study demonstrated the suitability of employing traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine in treating COVID-19”.
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Phytomedicine
Volume 84, April 2021, 153494
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0944711321000362#sec0025
