Chinese Herbal Medicines During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Role for Observational Studies

This column continues the JACM commentary series from the Society for Acupuncture Research (SAR). The authors, Claudia Citkovitz, PhD, LAc, from NYU Langone Hospital - Brooklyn and Rosa N. Schnyer, DAOM, LAc, from the University of Texas, are both licensed East Asian Medicine (EAM) clinicians as well as researchers. The dual roles inform this commentary. As clinicians, they respect development over the centuries of strategies toward epidemics by the Chinese and are intrigued by the high use of Chinese herbal medicine to treat COVID-19 in China. As researchers, they are aware of the robust exploration of integrative strategies in China and the dearth of such interest of exploration by most agencies in the West. In their column, Citkovitz and Schnyer highlight what self-respecting clinician researchers are doing to fill the knowledge gap. They provide background on three separate data gathering initiatives that have collaborated to keep their reporting structures comparable in order to "improve clinical practice in real time": one for detailed case reports, a second via a registry, and the third an observational study that provides quantitative and qualitative data regarding clinical reasoning and patient response. At JACM, we look forward to seeing the kinds of reports these initiatives can cast on the widespread patient experience with integrative and EAM COVID-19. -John Weeks, Editor-in-Chief, JACM.