Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Sep;9(3):185-190.
doi: 10.1016/j.aimed.2022.04.001. Epub 2022 Apr 20.

Efficacy of the barley-based remedy, a Persian medicine formula, in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) hospitalized patients: An open-labeled randomized controlled trial

Fatemeh Sadat Hasheminasab  1 , Maryam Azimi  2   3 , Mahmood Khodadoost  4 , Bahram Chouban  5 , Nezhat Shakeri  6 , Saeedeh Ghasemi  5 , Azam Farokhi  5 , Roshanak Mokaberinajad  4
Affiliations

Efficacy of the barley-based remedy, a Persian medicine formula, in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) hospitalized patients: An open-labeled randomized controlled trial

Fatemeh Sadat Hasheminasab et al. Adv Integr Med. 2022 Sep.

Abstract

Background: With the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and the growing attention of people around the world to the use of traditional and complementary medicines to control of the disease, evaluating the effectiveness of these treatments has received special attention.

Aim: This study aimed to assess the clinical efficacy of a barley-based (Hordeum vulgare) remedy combined with conventional medicine in comparison to the conventional therapy in confirmed COVID-19 patients.

Materials and methods: Seventy COVID-19 patients were randomly divided into barley-based remedy plus conventional medicine (barley-based remedy group) and conventional therapy (control group). Both groups were treated for 5 days. The outcomes were oxygen saturation, main symptoms (fever, respiratory rate, cough, and fatigue), and laboratory data (lymphocytic count, and CRP); they were measured for 6 days.

Results: In comparison to the control group, the oxygen saturation level in the barley-based remedy group significantly increased, from the second day of the intervention (P < 0.05). The herbal remedy significantly improved fatigue from the third day (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, the severity and frequency of cough between the groups were not significantly different. The herbal remedy had no significant effect on the CRP and the lymphocytic count of every time points of measurement. The average of respiratory rate and temperature of patients were in the normal range in both groups during the intervention.

Conclusion: Barley-based remedy could significantly enhance the blood oxygen saturation and reduce fatigue. However, it needs to be confirmed by large sample size trials.

Keywords: Cordia myxa L; Hordeum vulgare L.; Persian medicine; Pneumonia; Ziziphus jujuba Mill.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

There was no conflict of interest in this study.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
CONSORT flow diagram of the study.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries.
    1. Hu K., Guan W.-j, Bi Y., Zhang W., Li L., Zhang B., Liu Q., Song Y., Li X., Duan Z. Efficacy and Safety of Lianhuaqingwen Capsules, a repurposed Chinese Herb, in Patients with Coronavirus disease 2019: A multicenter, prospective, randomized controlled trial. Phytomedicine. 2020 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Huang C., Wang Y., Li X., Ren L., Zhao J., Hu Y., Zhang L., Fan G., Xu J., Gu X. Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. Lancet. 2020;395(10223):497–506. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yang Z., Zeng Z., Wang K., Wong S.-S., Liang W., Zanin M., Liu P., Cao X., Gao Z., Mai Z. Modified SEIR and AI prediction of the epidemics trend of COVID-19 in China under public health interventions. J. Thorac. Dis. 2020;12(3):165. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Azimi M., Hasheminasab F.S. Evaluating the efficacy and safety of the myrtle (Myrtus communis) in treatment and prognosis of patients suspected to novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials. 2020;21(1):1–5. - PMC - PubMed