Application Of A Non-Linear Multi-Model Ayurveda Intervention In Elderly COVID-19 Patients- A Retrospective Case Series

Background and Aim

With over 155 million infections, nearly 32 lakh deaths, and an economic toll accounting to trillions, the COVID-19 pandemic is ravaging the world. The mainstream medical system is being handicapped with the challenge of patient management with no proven treatment at one end and the use of vaccine at the other with prevailing ambiguity in developing herd immunity and safety concerns of mass vaccinations amidst pandemic. Though vaccination is the only hope, fool proof evidences are absent on its efficacy. Also, adults of above 65 are of greater risk in terms of complications and death. China has already documented the use of traditional Chinese medicine against the pandemic with national participation rate of 90%. In this regard, the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) against COVID-19 is relevant, especially in a country like India where it is widely practised as Ayurveda.

Experimental procedure

The current report is a retrospective case series of 64 Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) above the age of 60 years tested positive through Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) through a Non-Linear multi-modal Ayurveda Intervention (NLMAI) for 21 days consulted through online media. The NLMAI is a combination of herbal and herbo-mineral drug interventions, lifestyle modifications, and psychological support done in 2 phases.

Results and conclusions

The management revealed a mean duration of symptoms assessed through survival function of 11 symptoms of COVID-19 as 0.577 days [SE=0.39] with a CI 95% [lower bound=0.500, upper bound 0.653] which was considerably low when compared to global statistics. Moreover, none of the cases advanced to complications or death. The holistic, non-linear, multi-modal approach of Ayurveda may be used to counter the gravity of the COVID-19 pandemic through easy symptomatic recovery, co-morbidity managements and deaths.