SEAttle-based Research of Chinese Herbs for COVID-19 Study: A Whole Health Perspective on Chinese Herbal Medicine for Symptoms that may be Related to COVID-19

Lisa Taylor-Swanson; Daniel Altschuler; Katherine Taromina; Belinda Anderson; Daniel Bensky; Misha Cohen; Helen Huang; Shouchun Ma; Iman Majd; Craig Mitchell; Rosa N Schnyer; Lisa Conboy

doi:10.1177/21649561211070483

SEAttle-based Research of Chinese Herbs for COVID-19 Study: A Whole Health Perspective on Chinese Herbal Medicine for Symptoms that may be Related to COVID-19

Glob Adv Health Med. 2022 Jan 25:11:21649561211070483. doi: 10.1177/21649561211070483. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ College of Nursing, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
² Seattle Institute of East Asian Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA.
³ College of Health Professions, Pace University, One Pace Plaza, New York, NY, USA.
⁴ California Institute of Integral Studies, ACTCM, San Francisco, CA, USA.
⁵ Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, NESA, Worcester MA, USA.
⁶ Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, University of Washington, Department of Family Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁷ School of Nursing, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA.
⁸ Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.

Abstract

Introduction: East Asian Medicine (EAM) is a Whole System medicine that includes Chinese herbal medicine (CHM). Chinese herbal medicine has been utilized to reduce symptom burden in infectious disease, with notable theoretical reformulations during pandemics of the 3rd, 13th, and 17th centuries. Today, Licensed Acupuncturists trained in CHM have utilized it to treat symptoms and sequelae of COVID-19. However, little is known about its use or efficacy by the public and health practitioners. Understanding and evaluating whole medicine systems of healthcare is inherently complex; there is international consensus for a descriptive, pragmatic approach. We are conducting a feasibility pilot study using a prospective, pragmatic, observational design using Whole Health and Whole Person perspectives. The complexity of COVID-19 reflects the impact on multiple homeoregulatory systems and provides a unique opportunity to assess the impact of interventions such as EAM on whole health. Observation of these EAM encounters will provide valuable qualitative and quantitative data on the interface of an extant Whole System medicine with a novel complex illness as a precursor to a randomized clinical trial.

Methods: This ongoing study observes a CHM clinic offering telehealth consultations to a diverse patient population since April, 2020. Patients who report symptoms potentially related to COVID-19 disease are consented for standardized collection and analysis of demographic and clinical data from each clinical encounter.

Results: To date, 61 patients engaged in 195 consultations (mean 3.3) with 49 reporting symptom resolution sufficient to complete treatment, and 4 withdrawals. Just over half (62%) were female, with an average age of 45.7 years. A wide variety of CHM formulas and EAM dietary and lifestyle modifications were provided.

Discussion: Adequate recruitment and retention suggest feasibility of the intervention and data collection. The rich dataset may facilitate the construction of Whole Health models of CHM's clinical impact, as well as integrative inquiry into CHM's effects on symptoms.

Keywords: COVID-19; Chinese herbal medicine; long haul COVID; post-acute COVID-19 Syndrome; pragmatic; telehealth; whole health.

Grants and funding

UL1 TR002556/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/United States