Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40761857›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in medicine2025

Effectiveness of Japanese traditional medicine (Kamikihito and Saikokeishito) for treating long COVID: a prospective observational study.

Rie Ono, Shin Takayama, Ryutaro Arita, Kota Ishizawa, Akiko Kikuchi, Michiaki Abe, Minoru Ohsawa, Natsumi Saito, Takeshi Kanno, Koh Onodera and 1 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Rie OnoDepartment of Kampo Medicine, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
Shin TakayamaDepartment of Kampo Medicine, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
Ryutaro AritaDepartment of Kampo Medicine, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
Kota IshizawaDepartment of Education and Support for Regional Medicine, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
Akiko KikuchiDepartment of Kampo Medicine, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
Michiaki AbeDepartment of Education and Support for Regional Medicine, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
Minoru OhsawaDepartment of Kampo Medicine, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
Natsumi SaitoDepartment of Kampo Medicine, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
Takeshi KannoDepartment of Education and Support for Regional Medicine, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
Koh OnoderaDepartment of Kampo Medicine, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
Tadashi IshiiDepartment of Kampo Medicine, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Long COVID symptoms, especially brain fog, significantly impair patient quality of life (QOL); however, effective treatments remain elusive. Japanese traditional medicine (JTM, usually called Kampo medicine) is often used adjunctively to treat patients with diverse manifestations of long COVID. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of JTM in treating long COVID using a comprehensive QOL assessment. Methods: This single-center, prospective observational study evaluated QOL changes in patients with symptoms persisting beyond 28 days from the onset of COVID-19 (long COVID) who visited our general medicine outpatient department between October 2021 and August 2024. The treatment plan was determined by the attending physician based on the patient's condition. The health-related QOL (HR-QOL) was comprehensively assessed using EuroQol-5 demensions-5levels (EQ-5D-5L) scores (ranging from -0.025 to 1.000, with higher values indicating better HR-QOL) at baseline and 3 months after the first visit. The formulations and factors associated with QOL changes were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression analyses. Results: We analyzed 112 patients. The most common symptoms were fatigue (83.9%). The median (interquartile range) HR-QOL of the entire cohort significantly increased from 0.711 (0.561-0.711) at baseline to 0.833 (0.671-0.890) at 3 months ( Conclusion: Long COVID treatment involving JTM improved the patients' QOL at 3 months. The combination of kamikihito with saikokeishito may be a potential treatment option for long COVID. However, a randomized controlled trial is required to confirm its efficacy.

Indexed as

brain fogcomprehensive QOLkamikihito (KKT)Kampolong COVIDsaikokeishito (SAKT)traditional medicine

Identifiers

PMID40761857
PMCPMC12320050

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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.