Persistent cough in mild COVID‐19 successfully treated with chikujountanto, a traditional Kampo medicine: An observational cohort study

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) causes a variety of cough symptoms in the acute and chronic phases. Chikujountanto (CUT) is a Kampo formula administered for persistent cough, and previous pharmacological studies have suggested the anti‐inflammatory properties of the crude drugs that make up CUT. This pilot study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of CUT for COVID‐19‐associated cough.MethodsA total of 56 COVID‐19 patients without hypoxia or lung disease were prospectively enrolled, and were treated with antivirals in our adult‐fever clinic from September 2022 to November 2023. Ten consecutive patients with cough refractory to antivirals, an inhaled corticosteroid plus a long‐acting β2 agonist (ICS/LABA), and bronchodilators were divided into two groups; CUT or bakumondoto (BAK) was used three times a day for at least one week in combination with ICS/LABA. The differences between the two groups were evaluated using Fisher's exact test for the 2 × 2 contingency table.ResultsThe median age was 50 years (interquartile range 36–54 years). Only one (20%) of the five participants remained persistently coughing seven days after treatment in the CUT group, compared to 100% in the BAK group (p < 0.05). The cough score decreased from 2.7 ± 0.8 at baseline to 0.5 ± 0.4 one week after CUT administration (p < 0.001).ConclusionThis pilot study suggests that CUT could be a treatment option for persistent cough in patients with mild COVID‐19. More randomized clinical trials with larger samples are required to better evaluate CUT as an anti‐inflammatory drug for SARS‐CoV‐2.