Efficacy of Persian barley water on clinical outcomes of hospitalized moderate-severity COVID-19 patients: a single-blind, add-on therapy, randomized controlled clinical trial

A. Tavakoli, H. Molavi Vardanjani, F. Namjouyan, H. Cramer, M. Pasalar

Department of Traditional Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. pasalar@sums.ac.ir

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• Infectious Diseases
• Phytomedicine

OBJECTIVE: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a debilitating disease with numerous medical and non-medical consequences. Our study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Persian barley water in controlling the clinical outcomes of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a single-blind, add-on therapy, randomized controlled clinical trial conducted in Shiraz, Iran, from January to March 2021. One hundred hospitalized COVID-19 patients with moderate disease severity were randomly allocated to receive routine treatment (per local protocols) with or without 250 ml of Persian barley water (PBW) daily for two weeks. Clinical outcomes and blood tests were recorded before and after the study period. Multivariable modeling was applied using Stata software for data analysis.

RESULTS: The PBW product passed our standardization and safety assessments. Length of hospital stay (LHS) was 4.5 days shorter in the intervention group than the control group regardless of history of cigarette smoking (95% confidence interval: -7.22, -1.79 days). Also, body temperature, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), and creatinine significantly dropped in the intervention group compared to the control group. No adverse events related to PBW occurred.

CONCLUSIONS: This clinical trial demonstrated the efficacy of PBW in minimizing the LHS, fever, and levels of ESR, CRP, and creatinine among hospitalized COVID-19 patients with moderate disease severity. More robust trials can help find safe and effective herbal formulations as treatments for COVID-19.

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