An open clinical evaluation of selected siddha regimen in expediting the management of COVID-19 -a randomized controlled study

Background: The corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19), an acute respiratory disease, caused by a novel corona virus (SARS-CoV-2, previously known as 2019-nCoV), obtained worldwide attention. In this review, we explored the potential siddha strategies for COVID-19 infections. Objectives: To evaluate the additional benefits of siddha drugs Vasantha kusumakaram mathirai, Thippili rasayanam, Adathodai manapagu and Kabasura kudineer compared to the allopathic standard treatment of care alone in COVID-19 asymptomatic, mild moderate cases. Materials and methods: The present study was an open label Two arm randomized controlled interventional clinical study. The Group I patients were assigned to Siddha add on treatment whereas Group II subjects were assigned with standard treatment alone. The sample size was 100 for each group. Result: The average number of days taken for reduction of symptoms showed significant results (P < 0.001) in Siddha add on compared with standard treatment. The real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) investigation turned negative for 78.33% in Siddha add on and 33.33% in standard treatment after 11-14 days. Similarly, CT chest, covid pattern lung involvement percentage showed highly significant reduction (P < 0.0001) in Siddha add on treatment. In addition, Neutrophil Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) ratio, showed significant reduction (P < 0.01) when analyzed by Wilcoxon signed rank test, and Renal, Liver parameters were within the normal limits in Siddha add on Group for 25 samples in post treatment. Conclusion: Finally, it was concluded that Siddha add on Group showed accelerated recovery for COVID 19 patients compared to standard Group. The synergistic effect of Siddha add on with standard treatment gave more promising results in the current study of COVID-19.(c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Institute of Transdisciplinary Health Sciences and Technology and World Ayurveda Foundation. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

This study found that the use of siddha drugs in COVID-19 patients showed significant effectiveness, accelerating the recovery process and reducing the time for symptom reduction and the percentage of respiratory involvement.