Home-Based Remedies to Prevent COVID-19-Associated Risk of Infection, Admission, Severe Disease, and Death: A Nested Case-Control Study

Benjamin Demah Nuertey; Joyce Addai; Priscilla Kyei-Bafour; Kingsley Appiah Bimpong; Victor Adongo; Laud Boateng; Kareem Mumuni; Kenneth Mibut Dam; Emilia Asuquo Udofia; Nana Ayegua Hagan Seneadza; Benedict Nl Calys-Tagoe; Edem M A Tette; Alfred Edwin Yawson; Sari Soghoian; Gideon K Helegbe; Rajesh Vedanthan

doi:10.1155/2022/4559897

Home-Based Remedies to Prevent COVID-19-Associated Risk of Infection, Admission, Severe Disease, and Death: A Nested Case-Control Study

Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2022 Mar 16:2022:4559897. doi: 10.1155/2022/4559897. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Benjamin Demah Nuertey^{1

2}, Joyce Addai³, Priscilla Kyei-Bafour¹, Kingsley Appiah Bimpong¹, Victor Adongo¹, Laud Boateng⁴, Kareem Mumuni^{1

5}, Kenneth Mibut Dam^{1

2}, Emilia Asuquo Udofia², Nana Ayegua Hagan Seneadza², Benedict Nl Calys-Tagoe², Edem M A Tette², Alfred Edwin Yawson², Sari Soghoian⁶, Gideon K Helegbe⁷, Rajesh Vedanthan⁴

Affiliations

¹ Tamale Teaching Hospital, Tamale, Ghana.
² Department of Community Health, University of Ghana Medical School, Accra, Ghana.
³ Department of Medicine, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, Ghana.
⁴ Department of Population Health, Department of Medicine, NYU Langone Health, New York, USA.
⁵ Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Ghana Medical School, Korle-Bu, Accra, Ghana.
⁶ Department of Emergency Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
⁷ Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana.

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed at determining the various types of home-based remedies, mode of administration, prevalence of use, and their relevance in reducing the risk of infection, hospital admission, severe disease, and death.

Methods: The study design is an open cohort of all participants who presented for testing for COVID-19 at the Infectious Disease Treatment Centre (Tamale) and were followed up for a period of six weeks. A nested case-control study was designed. Numerical data were analysed using STATA version 14, and qualitative data were thematically analysed.

Results: A total of 882 participants made up of 358 (40.6%) cases and 524 (59.4%) unmatched controls took part in the study. The prevalence of usage of home-based remedies to prevent COVID-19 was 29.6% (n = 261). These include drinks (34.1% (n = 100)), changes in eating habits/food (33.8% (n = 99)), physical exercise (18.8% (n = 55)), steam inhalation (9.9% (n = 29)), herbal baths (2.7% (n = 8)), and gurgle (0.7 (n = 2)). Participants who practiced any form of home-based therapy were protected from SARS-CoV-2 infection (OR = 0.28 (0.20-0.39)), severe/critical COVID-19 (OR = 0.15 (0.05-0.48)), hospital admission (OR = 0.15 (0.06-0.38)), and death (OR = 0.31 (0.07-1.38)). Analysis of the various subgroups of the home-based therapies, however, demonstrated that not all the home-based remedies were effective. Steam inhalation and herbal baths were associated with 26.6 (95% CI = 6.10-116.24) and 2.7 (95% CI = 0.49-14.78) times increased risk of infection, respectively. However, change in diet (AOR = 0.01 (0.00-0.13)) and physical exercise (AOR = 0.02 (0.00-0.26)) remained significantly associated with a reduced risk of infection. We described results of thematic content analysis regarding the common ingredients in the drinks, diets, and other home-based methods administered.

Conclusion: Almost a third of persons presenting for COVID-19 test were involved in some form of home-based remedy to prevent COVID-19. Steam inhalation and herbal baths increased risk of COVID-19 infection, while physical exercise and dietary changes were protective against COVID-19 infection and hospital admission. Future protocols might consider inclusion of physical activity and dietary changes based on demonstrated health gains.