Data on steam inhalation in combating CoVid-19

Steam inhalations are often used to control viral infections of the respiratory tract such as common cold. The use of steam inhalation in combating SAR-CoV-2 infection has been also tried. Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate the various data available on the effect of steam inhalation on COVID-19 infection in a systematic manner. The guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) were used. We registered the protocol in PROSPERO, the International prospective register of systematic reviews. A search method to identify relevant studies using PICO questions was prepared. A total of 52 articles were screened for their relevance to the topic. Three articles were found to have insufficient data and ten articles could not pass our inclusion criteria. Total 3 articles could make the final list of articles based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Steam inhalation helps in symptomatic relief of COVID symptoms. But there is not much data available to reach a conclusion of its role in the treatment and prevention of COVID.