Mining The Law Of Traditional Chinese Medicine In The Treatment Of COVID-19 In Jiangxi Province

OBJECTIVE: This study summarized the prescription drugs used in the confirmed cases of COVID-19 admitted to the Affiliated Hospital of Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine from January 19,2020 to April 26,2022,and summarized the law of traditional Chinese medicine medication for the treatment of COVID-19 in Jiangxi Province,in order to add a new theoretical reference for clinical treatment of the disease.METHODS: According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria formulated in this study,the confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Affiliated Hospital of Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine were collected for standardized treatment of the included prescription drug information,and a database was established to review the data.Two persons were responsible for sorting out the reviewed data and conducting descriptive statistical analysis,including drug frequency and efficacy Then,data mining software was used to conduct association rules and cluster analysis for high-frequency drugs in the prescriptions,and drug-to-drug groups and core drug combinations of high-frequency drugs were summarized.Based on the theoretical knowledge of modern traditional Chinese medicine,the mechanism of action of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of COVID-19 was analyzed In addition,it focuses on the comparison of the law of medication in traditional Chinese medicine between COVID-19 and other diseases to explore the similarities in the law of medication in treatment of COVID-19 and other diseases.RESULTS: Among the 320 confirmed cases included in this study,197 TCM were involved,with a total of 4238 times of use,among which 37 TCM were used more than 30 times.According to the statistics of drug frequency,licorice was the most frequently used,followed by Poria bitter almond method pinellia forsythia According to the statistics of drug categories,clearing heat was the most frequently used drug,followed by reducing phlegm,relieving cough and relieving asthma and tonifying deficiency.According to the normalization statistics of drug flavor,drug properties were mainly warm and cold,and drug flavor was mainly bitter and sweet.According to the analysis of drug association rules,nine drugs with high frequency appeared in drug association prescriptions: licorice poria,bitter almond,white carmeg,Baicalensis,forsythia,talc,mulberry leaf and ephedrine Through drug cluster analysis,we found that the high-frequency drugs could be clustered into five categories: the first type was glycyrrhiza licorice,the second type was poria tangerine peel and pinellia.The third is bitter almond forsythia mulberry leaf scutellaria white cardamom and talc;The fourth type is ephedra,peach seed,coix seed,winter melon seed,reed root,patchouli and magnolia officinalis;The fifth category is the remaining 20 traditional Chinese medicines.In addition,this study conducted K-mean clustering,hierarchical clustering and consistent clustering analysis on the high-frequency drugs used in the treatment of 12 diseases,and concluded that the 12 diseases could be clustered into four categories,among which the COVID-19 and influenza were classified into the same category.CONCLUSION: Studies have found that the COVID-19 is a "dampness epidemic disease",and its disease is located in the lung,spleen and stomach.Therefore,the treatment focuses on clearing heat,dispelling wind,moistening lung,reducing inflammation and promoting blood circulation.Through the combination of association and clustering,it was concluded that the core drugs for the treatment of COVID-19 were licorice,poria coix,tangerine peel,pinellia pectoralis,bitter almond,cardamom,scutellaria,forsythia,talc,mulberry leaf,ephedra,Coix seed,etc.According to the clustering analysis of TCM drugs for diseases,12 kinds of diseases can be grouped into four categories,because of their different diseases,pathogenic sources and some diseases,which have an impact on prescription drugs.However,there were differences and similarities in the treatment of epidemics.It was found that the high-frequency drugs used for all epidemics were licorice,poria cocos,tangerine peel,scutellaria,forsythia and paeoniae alba,which could be called as the generic drugs for epidemics.