Using Ozone Therapy as an Option for Treatment of COVID-19 Patients: A Scoping Review

Recent investigations are seeking a novel treatment to control the new pandemic of coronavirus 19 (COVID-19). The aim of this systematic review was to study the effect of ozone therapy on COVID-19 patients and the available supporting evidence. Electronic databases including MEDLINE (via PubMed), EMBASE, Cochrane Library (CENTRAL), and TRIP, clinical trial registries, and preprint sources were searched for published evidence-based articles. In addition, manual searching was conducted for articles published up to April 6, 2020, using MeSH and free text keywords with no language limitation. Articles were screened, categorized, and extracted for relative data. Data were reported in a descriptive manner. Among 234 articles, 9 were selected for review of the inclusion criteria. No published original articles were found regarding the efficacy of ozone therapy on COVID-19. Five review studies were found in which the potential role of systemic ozone therapy was concluded to be effective in controlling COVID-19 because of its antiviral, oxygenation, anti-inflammatory, oxidation balancing, and immunomodulation effects. Three ongoing clinical trials were registered in China. A preliminary report of an ongoing study in Italy on 46 patients (11 intubated and 35 non-intubated) showed that in 39 (84%) of the patients, an improvement was seen. In spite of the promising background data, as well as the expert opinions and a preliminary report indicating the effectiveness of ozone, there is still not enough evidence to confirm this as a viable treatment option for COVID-19.