Prophylactic efficacy of Unani herbal and herbo-mineral preparations in population at risk of COVID-19 – A randomised controlled prospective field trial

Abstract

Present study was aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Unani poly-herbal decoction and Khamira Marvareed (herbo-mineral preparation) in COVID-19 susceptible population. This study was conducted as prospective, open label, randomized Controlled, prophylactic Community-based clinical trial. Four thousand five hundred healthy adults from containment zone were allocated randomly into intervention (n=2250) and control group (n=2250). The intervention group was given a combination of herbal drugs namely Unnab (Zizyphus jujube Mill.), 5 pieces; Sapistan (Cordia myxa L.), 9 pieces; Behidana (Cydonia oblonga Mill.), 3gms in decoction form and Khameera Marwareed, 5gms as semisolid preparation, orally once daily in the morning for 20 days. No drug was given in the control group. The subjects were assessed on 0, 20^th and 35^th day. The prophylactic effect of the Unani intervention was evaluated on the basis of difference of COVID-19 incidence between the groups, COVID-19 like symptoms, scores of immunity status questionnaire and WHOQOL-BREF scale after completion of 35^th day of study. The study remained inconclusive to find any difference in COVID-19 incidence, but showed highly significant result (p<0.001) in favour of Unani intervention in containing all COVID-19 like symptoms except cough; highly significant results (p<0.001) in score of immunity status questionnaire and highly significant results (p<0.001) in scores of physical and psychological domains of WHOQOL-BREF scale. The highly significant results in almost all secondary outcomes suggest the efficacy of the Unani intervention in control of COVID-19 like symptoms and may be beneficial in prevention of COVID-19 infection.