Recently,the Guidelines on the treatment with integrated traditionalChinese medicine and western medicine for severe coronavirus disease 2019 (the Guidelines), which was initiated bythe team led by Prof. Wen Chengping, Vice President of ZCMU, was ranked 1st among 61 traditional medicine guidelines by the Scientificity, Transparency and Applicability Rankings (STAR) of Chinese Guidelines and Consensuses 2021.

The Guidelines was formulated by a team led by Prof. Wen Chengping and Prof. Chen Yaolong of Lanzhou University, under the guidance of an expert committee composed of Tong Xiaolin, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wang Qi, Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, etc. The co-first authors are Li Zhiyu, a doctoral student at ZCMU, and Xie Zhijun, a Research Fellow. The corresponding authors are Prof. Wen Chengping and Prof. Chen Yaolong.

Targeting patients infected with COVID-19 who are at risk of developing, suffering, or recovering from severe symptoms, the Guidelines center around clinical questions like how integrated Chinese and Western medicine can reduce the deterioration rate, treat severe cases, especially among elderly patients, reduce adverse drug events, treat complications, and improve patients’ mental health during recovery. After the team’s deconstruction and systematic research and rounds of surveys and expert discussions, 22 recommendations covering the prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and psychological support of severe COVID-19 cases with integrated Chinese and Western medicine, were proposed, the grades of which, together with the quality of evidence, were strictly determined by international evidence-based methods.

The Guidelines was published in 2021 in the top journal Pharmacological Research (JCR Q1). The Guidelines adheres to the definition of guidelines by the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), the normative procedure in WHO Handbook for Guideline Development and Reporting Items for Practice Guidelines in Healthcare (RIGHT), and adopts the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE) system. It scientifically and systematically summarizes the practical experience of multidisciplinary clinical experts, contributing China’s efforts and TCM advantages in rehabilitation, individualized treatment, and immunity enhancement to the global fight against COVID-19. The Guidelines also serves as a model for improving the scientificity, transparency, and applicability of traditional medicine guidelines and consensuses.