ArticleLife (Basel, Switzerland)2022
Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation Improves Inflammation but Does Not Interfere with Cardiac Modulation and Clinical Symptoms of Individuals with COVID-19: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
Article in Life (Basel, Switzerland), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy and Safety of Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients: A Systematic Review and Methodological Evaluation of Randomized Controlled Trials.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Pooled it
- Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation may improve cognitive deficits in neuropsychiatric diseases-a systematic review.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2026Pooled it
- Acute Effect of Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation in Two Different Locations on Blood Pressure and Cardiac Autonomic Modulation in Healthy and Hypertensive Individuals: Pilot Study of a Randomized Crossover Clinical Trial.Physiotherapy research international : the journal for researchers and clinicians in physical therapy · 2026Trial
- Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Post-COVID-19 Condition: A Systematic Review and Critical Appraisal of Clinical Evidence.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- A Review of Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Disease: Comprehensive Theory and Evidence for Mechanisms of Action.Comprehensive physiology · 2026Review
- Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation: mechanisms, applications, and research progress.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- Balancing the autonomic scale: the promise of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation in combating cardiovascular diseases.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Review
- Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation in breast cancer: a neuroimmune model to improve quality of life.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Treating Emotional Dysregulation and Inflammation in Common Neuropsychiatric Disorders.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Cholinergic reflex control of inflammation: mechanistic and translational advances in transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation across rheumatic, metabolic, and postoperative disorders.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Review
- Post-COVID dysautonomias: what we know and (mainly) what we don't know.Nature reviews. Neurology · 2024Review
- Detrimental effects of COVID-19 in the brain and therapeutic options for long COVID: The role of Epstein-Barr virus and the gut-brain axis.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Review
- Potential value of neuroimmunotherapy for COVID-19: efficacies and mechanisms of vagus nerve stimulation, electroacupuncture, and cholinergic drugs.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Transcranial auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) has shown effectiveness in reducing inflammation and depression. Thus, this study evaluated its effect on inflammation, cardiac autonomic modulation, and clinical symptoms in individuals affected by COVID-19. Methods: There were 52 randomized participants hospitalized with COVID-19 diagnosis who were to receive active (a-taVNS) or sham taVNS (s-taVNS) for 90 min twice a day for seven consecutive days. Interleukin 6 (IL-6), 10 (IL-10), cortisol, C-reactive protein (CRP), heart rate variability (HRV), and clinical symptoms were assessed before and after seven days of treatment. There were also seven- and fourteen-day follow-ups for clinical symptoms, including anxiety and depression levels, as well as a six-month follow-up for memory and attention levels. Results: There was significant reduction in CRP −23.9%, (95% CI −46.3 to −1.4) and IL-6 −37.7%, (95% CI −57.6 to −17.7) for the a-taVNS group. There were no changes in IL-10, cortisol levels, or in HRV results (p > 0.05) in both groups. There were no changes regarding clinical symptoms, except for a significant decrease in depression level (−2.85, 95% CI −5.44 to −0.27) in the a-taVNS group. Conclusion: taVNS showed effects on CRP, IL-6, and depression levels; however, it did not affect other clinical symptoms.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.