Expert consensus on the use of traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of common symptoms of post-COVID-19 short-term condition

Abstract

A proportion of patients who recovered from COVID-19 have ongoing, recurrent, or new symptoms with negative nucleic acid/antigen test results, which has become a new public health problem that needs to be concerned. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has shown its unique advantages in preventing, treating, and rehabilitating COVID-19. To further standardize clinician's clinical diagnosis and use of TCM for the treatment of common symptoms associated with COVID-19 infection following negative nucleic acid/antigen results, the front-line clinical experts were invited for discussion on the concepts, etiology, clinical manifestations of post-COVID-19 condition, and on treatment with TCM to form the consensus. Clinicians of TCM, Western medicine, or integration of both can use this consensus document for clinical practice and research purposes.

Keywords

Expert consensus / Post-COVID-19 short-term condition / Traditional Chinese medicine

Conflicts of interest statement

Junhua Zhang and Boli Zhang are editorial board members of this journal. None of the other authors declare any conflicts of interest.

Funding

This article was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82074583).

Author contributions

Boli Zhang, Enxiang Chao, Qingquan Liu and Hongchun Zhang were steering committee experts. Junhua Zhang, Bo Pang, Wenke Zheng, Fengwen Yang, Wentai Pang and Xinyao Jin were main drafters.

Ethical approval of studies and informed consent

Not applicable.

Acknowledgments

None.

Data Availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

Expert group (people), in chronological order of joining the group

Zhongde Zhang (Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine), Candong Li (Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine), Xiangyang Leng (Changchun University of Traditional Chinese Medicine), Jiansheng Li (Henan University of Chinese Medicine), Xiuhui Li (Beijing Youan Hospital, Capital Medical University), Wensheng Qi (Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medicine Science), Guangxi Li (Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medicine Science), Wei Zhang (Shuguang Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine), Zengtao Sun (Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine), Baohe Wang (The First Affiliated Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditioanl Chinese Medicine), Yubin Zhao (Shijiazhuang Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Hebei University of Chinese Medicine), Jingtao Li (Affiliated Hospital of Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine), Jianwen Guo (Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine), Guiwei Li (The First Affiliated Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditioanl Chinese Medicine), Jun Zhang (Wuhan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine), Jingqing Hu (China Science and Technology Development Center for Chinese Medicine), Jihong Feng (The Second Affiliated Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditioanl Chinese Medicine), Zegeng Li (The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine), Wenguang Xia (Hubei Province Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western medicine), Mingjun Zhu (The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine), Zhongqi Yang (The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine), Genping Lei (Affiliated Hospital of Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine), Jianyuan Tang (Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine), Rui Gao (Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medicine Science), Weian Yuan (Shuguang Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine), Yuhong Huang (The Second Affiliated Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditioanl Chinese Medicine), Xucheng Li (Wuhan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine), Jianqiang Mei (Heibei Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine), Limei Geng (Heibei Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine), Sheng Xie (The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine), Min Zhao (The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine), Xinbo Song (Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine), Shengyuan Zhou (The Second Affiliated Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditioanl Chinese Medicine), Zhihuan Zhou (Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine), Tao Zhang (Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine), Zheng Hao (Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine), Hui Wang (Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine), Shuhua Cui (Shijiazhuang Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Hebei University of Chinese Medicine), Ming Huang (Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine), Chunxiang Liu (Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine), Fengshuang Liu (Shijiazhuang Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Hebei University of Chinese Medicine), Lujia Cao (Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine), Na Li (Shijiazhuang Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Hebei University of Chinese Medicine).

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