Table 1.

Characteristics of included studies

Reference	Study design	Region	No. of patients	Median age of patients, y	Severity of patients at admission	Intervention	Control	Outcomes	NOS
Zhu et al 22	Retrospective	Jiangsu, China	50	26	NA	Standard care plus arbidol (0.2 g tid)	Standard care plus lopinavir/ritonavir	Negative conversion time, negative rate on day 7 and day 14	7
Chen et al 30	Multicenter, open‐label, RCT	Hubei, China	236	NA	Not severe/critical patients	Standard care plus arbidol (0.2 g tid)	Standard care plus favipiravir	Rate of symptom alleviation on day 7, Incidence of composite endpoint and adverse events,	8
Wen et al 25	Retrospective	Guangzhou, China	94	54	NA	Standard care plus arbidol (0.2 g tid)	Standard care	Negative rate of PCR on day 7 and day 14, Rate of symptom alleviation on day 7, Incidence of composite endpoint and adverse events	7
Chen et al 26	Retrospective	Shanghai, China	82	44	NA	Standard care plus IFN‐α2b and arbidol (0.2 g tid)	Standard care plus IFN‐α2b	Negative rate on day 7, Incidence of composite endpoint and adverse events,	8
Li et al 31	Exploratory RCT	Guangzhou, China	52	50	mild/moderate patients	Standard care plus arbidol (0.2 g tid)	Standard care	negative conversion time, Negative rate of PCR on day 7 and day 14, Rate of symptom alleviation on day 7	9
Xu et al 24	Multicenter retrospective cohort study	Hubei and Shenzhen, China	141	51	Not severe/critical patients (without ventilation)	Standard care plus inhaled IFN‐α2b (bid, 5 ×10*5 IU) and arbidol (0.2gtid)	Standard care plus inhaled IFN‐α2b (bid, 5 ×10*5 IU)	negative conversion time	6
Deng et al 28	Retrospective cohort study	Guangdong Province, China	33	41	Not severe/critical patients (without ventilation)	Standard care plus lopinavir/ritonavir (0.4/0.1 g bid) and arbidol (0.2 g tid)	Standard care plus lopinavir/ritonavir (0.4/0.1 g bid)	Negative rate on day 7 and day 14	8
Lan et al 29	Retrospective observational study	Zhejiang, China.	73	52	non‐ICU patients	Standard care plus lopinavir/ritonavir (0.4/0.1 g bid) and arbidol (0.2 g tid)	Standard care plus lopinavir/ritonavir (0.4/0.1 g bid)	negative conversion time, Incidence of composite endpoint, Hospital length of stay	7
Liu et al 27	Retrospective	Wuhan, China	32	44	NA	Standard care plus abidor (0.2 g tid)	Standard care	negative conversion time, Hospital length of stay, Incidence of composite endpoint	6
Lian et al 12	Retrospective	Wuhan, China	81	60	non‐ICU patients	Standard care plus umifenovir (0.2 g tid)	Standard care	Hospital length of stay, negative conversion time	8
Wang et al 11	Retrospective	Wuhan, China	69	42	NA	Standard care plus arbidol	Standard care	Incidence of composite endpoint	6
Chen et al 23	Retrospective	Guangzhou, China	109	48	NA	Standard care plus arbidol	Standard care	negative conversion time, Negative rate of PCR on day 14, Hospital length of stay	9

Abbreviations: ICU, intensive care unit; IFN: interferon; NA, not acquired; RCT, randomized controlled trial.

Note: bid, twice a day; composite endpoint, admission to ICU or mechanical ventilation or death; tid, three times a day.