Efficacy and safety of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine in the treatment of primary liver cancer: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background:Primary liver cancer (PLC) is a common cancer, and its morbidity and mortality are ranked 6th and 3rd in the world for malignant tumors, respectively. And this number is still on the rise, seriously endangering people''s health. In recent years, acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine have been widely used in the treatment of PLC, and there are few restrictions. However, we have not found a meta-analysis of their synergistic effects. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis will evaluate the efficacy and acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine in the treatment of primary liver cancer.Method:We will search the following databases from inception up to August 20, 2021: PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, AMED, Cochrane Library, CNKI, VIP, CBM, and Wanfang. There will be no restrictions regarding publication date or language. We will apply a combination of medical keywords and words, including “acupuncture,” “Chinese herbal medicine” and “primary liver cancer”. Additionally, we will manually search all reference lists from relevant systematic reviews to find other eligible studies. We will use the random effects model in REVMAN v5.3 for meta-analysis. The study for acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine in the treatment of PLC was a randomized controlled study. Two researchers will independently review the research selection, data extraction, and research quality assessments. Finally, we will observe the outcome measures.Results:This study will provide evidence-based medical evidence for the treatment of PLC with a combination of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine, and provide new ideas and methods for the treatment of PLC.Registration number: INPLASY202180103     

Efficacy and safety of acupuncture and moxibustion combined with the external application of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of primary liver cancer: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background:Primary liver cancer (PLC) is one of the most common malignant tumors in the world, and its incidence and fatality rate are increasing year by year. Due to the large population base in China, the aging population is severely affected by environmental pollution, eating habits, and unhealthy lifestyles. And many other influences have caused the number of new PLC cases and deaths in China to rank first in the world. Acupuncture combined with external application of Chinese medicine to treat PLC is currently one of the commonly used treatments in China. However, this combined treatment still lacks evidence-based medicine support. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture combined with external application of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of PLC.Method:We will search PubMed, Web of Science, GCBI, Embase, OVID, AMED, Cochrane Library, CNKI, VIP, CBM, and Wanfang databases. As of September 15, 2021, there are no restrictions on search language, publication time, and publication status. We will use the following medical keywords to search, including: “acupuncture”, “external application of traditional Chinese medicine”, and “primary liver cancer”. At the same time, we will manually search all reference lists from relevant systematic reviews to find other eligible studies. We will use the random effects model in REVMAN v5.3 for meta-analysis. The study for acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine in the treatment of PLC was a randomized controlled study. Two researchers will independently review the research selection, data extraction, and research quality assessments. Finally, we will observe the outcome measures.Results:This study will provide evidence-based guidance for the treatment of PLC with acupuncture and the external application of traditional Chinese medicine and offers new ideas and methods for the treatment of PLC.     

Efficacy and safety of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine in the treatment of angina pectoris of coronary heart disease (CHD): A protocol for systematic review and meta analysis

Background:Coronary heart disease (CHD) angina pectoris is a clinical syndrome in which episodic chest pain or chest discomfort is the main manifestation of temporary ischemia and hypoxia of the myocardium due to coronary atherosclerosis and coronary artery functional changes (spasm). A large amount of clinical evidence confirms that acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine in the treatment of CHD and angina pectoris can relieve the symptoms of angina pectoris and improve the performance of electrocardiograph ischemia; It still has obvious therapeutic effects in regulating the levels of cardiovascular regulatory peptides ET and cGRP. To better evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine in the treatment of CHD and angina pectoris, we designed a systematic evaluation program to provide a reliable scientific basis for the future use of this method.Methods:Search Pubmed database, Embase, Cochrane library, Chinese Biomedical Literature CD-ROM Database (CBMdisk), China Journal Network Full-text Database (CNKI), Wanfang Database, Web of Science (SCI-E), the retrieval time is established from each database Until October 2021, search for relevant eligible randomized controlled trials with keywords or subject terms “acupuncture”, “Chinese herbal medicine”, and “CHD angina”. Outcome indicators were clinical symptoms of CHD and angina pectoris, changes in electrocardiogram, changes in blood lipids, and significant improvement in traditional Chinese medicine syndromes before and after treatment. Two researchers independently carried out data extraction and quality assessment, and use RevMan5.3 software to carry out final data analysis and assessment.Results:This study provides a reliable clinical scientific basis for acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine for the treatment of CHD and angina pectoris.Conclusion:Acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine can effectively relieve the clinical symptoms of CHD and angina pectoris and improve the performance of electrocardiograph. At the same time, it can reduce the cardiovascular regulatory peptide ET and increase the level of cGRP in the patient''s plasma, thus confirming its effectiveness and safety.     

Efficacy and safety of acupuncture combined with Chinese Herbal Medicine for diabetic nephropathy: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background:Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is one of the most serious complications in the development of diabetes mellitus, which has become the main cause of end-stage renal disease and one of the main causes of death in diabetic patients. With the prevalence of diabetes, the number of patients at risk for developing DN is increasing, with 20–40 percent of all patients with diabetes at risk for developing DN. Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine treatments are often combined to treat DN; however, there has been no meta-analysis on their synergistic effects. Therefore, we aimed to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the effectiveness of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine for DN treatment.Methods:Nine electronic databases were retrieved for this study. The English databases mainly retrieved PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, AMED, and the Cochrane Library, while the CNKI, VIP, CBM, and Wanfang databases were used to retrieve the Chinese literature. There is no definite time limit for the retrieval literature, and the languages are limited to Chinese and English. We will consider articles published between database initiation and August 2021. We used Review Manager 5.4, provided by the Cochrane Collaborative Network for statistical analysis. Clinical randomized controlled trials related to acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine for DN were included in this study. Research selection, data extraction, and research quality assessments were independently completed by two researchers. We then assessed the quality and risk of the included studies and observed the outcome measures.Results:This study provides a high-quality synthesis to assess the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine for treating DN.Conclusion:This systematic review will provide evidence to determine whether acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine is an effective and safe intervention for patients with DN.Ethics and dissemination:The protocol of the systematic review does not require ethical approval because it does not involve humans. This article will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at relevant conferences.Registration number:INPLASY202180018     

Efficacy and safety of acupuncture combined Chinese herbal medicine for diabetic peripheral neuropathy: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background:Acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine has been widely utilized for pain management in patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). However, its results are still inconsistent, and no systematic review has specifically addressed this issue. Thus, this systematic review will comprehensively and systematically investigate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine for pain relief in DPN.Methods:Randomized controlled trials on acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine treatment of DPN published before September of 2021 will be searched in 9 databases including Medline, Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Excerpta Medica Database, Sinomed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, WanFang, and China Science and Technology Journal Database. The methodological assessment performed using the risk of bias assessment tool of Cochrane, and the level of evidence quality for the main results will be evaluated by a recommended grading, evaluation, formulation, and evaluation system approach. Bayesian network meta-analysis will be conducted using STATA V.14.0 and WinBUGS V.1.4.3.Results:This study will provide a high-quality comprehensive evaluation of the safety of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine for treating DPN.Conclusion:This systematic review will evaluate the efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal medicine combined with acupuncture in the treatment of DPN, and provide the latest evidence for clinical application.Ethics and dissemination:The protocol of the systematic review does not require ethical approval because it does not involve humans. This article will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at relevant conferences.Registration number: INPLASY2021100004.     

Acupuncture therapy and cognitive dysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes: A protocol for systematic review

Background:With the aging of society, the incidence of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is increasing every year, and there is a clear correlation between T2DM and cognitive dysfunction. Acupuncture therapy has been widely used in the treatment of T2DM, but there is no systematic review on the treatment of T2DM associated with cognitive impairment. Therefore, this study aimed to conduct a meta-analysis of acupuncture in the treatment of T2DM with cognitive impairment to clarify its efficacy.Methods:A structured and systematic literature search will be conducted in the following databases up to April 26, 2021: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Web of Science (WOS), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), Chinese Scientific and Journal Database (VIP), and Wan Fang database (Wanfang). We will use the Review Manager 5.4 software provided by the Cochrane Collaborative Network for statistical analysis. We then assessed the quality and risk of the included studies and observed the outcome measures.Results:This meta-analysis further determined the beneficial effects of acupuncture on T2DM with cognitive impairment.Conclusion:The purpose of this meta-analysis was to explore the effect of acupuncture on patients T2DM with and cognitive impairment patients, and provide more options for clinicians and patients to treat T2DM with cognitive impairment.Ethics and dissemination:This systematics review will evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture in the treatment of T2DM with cognitive impairment. Since all the data included were published, the systematic review did not require ethical approval.Registration number:CRD42021245681.     

Clinical acupuncture therapy for chronic cholecystitis: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Chronic cholecystitis is a common chronic disease in clinical practice. The incidence of chronic cholecystitis is gradually increasing due to changes in eating habits and even if acute infections aren’t treated in time, it can cause serious complications, continue to plague people''s daily life and become an economic burden to society. Currently, the curative effect of chronic cholecystitis under the control of western medicine is still lacking and there are adverse reactions. However, based on current clinical controlled trials acupuncture therapy for chronic cholecystitis has gradually become a complementary treatment. Therefore, this systematic review aims to explore the safety and feasibility of acupuncture therapy in the treatment of chronic cholecystitis.Methods:We will search the following databases: Medline, PubMed, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Embase, Chinese Biomedical Literatures Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wang Fang Database, Chinese Scientific Journal Database from inception to February 2021 without any language restriction. At the same time, relevant literature will be searched manually. The main search terms include: “Acupuncture,” “Cholecystitis.” Data entry will be completed by 2 researchers separately. After entry, cross-checking will be performed to ensure the authenticity of the information. The main outcome criteria include: including the total effective rate of the patient; the traditional Chinese medicine symptom score of the patient includes: abdominal pain, tenderness in the right upper abdomen, and so on; secondary outcome criteria include: gallbladder contraction function and gallbladder thickness, VAS scores, recurrence rate, adverse reactions; use Cochrane risk bias assessment to evaluate and score the included randomized controlled trial; meta-analysis will be performed using RevMan 5.4.0 software. The heterogeneity test is based on the thresholds of P and I², In order to use solid or random effects models.Results:This systematic review only evaluates the safety and limitations of acupuncture therapy in the treatment of chronic cholecystitis. We will report the full text in the near future.Conclusion:This study will explore the safety and limitations of acupuncture therapy in the treatment of chronic cholecystitis, so that acupuncture therapy will be more widely used clinically.Trial registration number:INPLASY202120020     

Acupuncture for type 2 diabetes mellitus with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background:T2DM with NAFLD is a common disorder of glucose and lipid metabolism affecting the quality of life of patients. Due to the limitations and adverse reactions of drug treatment, acupuncture has been proved to be an effective method for the treatment of T2DM with NAFLD. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture in the treatment of NAFLD in T2DM class, and to provide high-quality evidence for acupuncture in the treatment of this disease.Methods:From establishment of the database to 31 July 2021, We will search the Cochrane Central Register of controlled trials, PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of science. Five Chinese databases, including China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), WanFang database, VIP, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM) and the Chinese clinical trial registry. There are no restrictions on language or publication, and they are independently screened and collected by two reviewers. Review Manager 5.3 software will be used for meta analysis. If necessary, heterogeneity testing, data synthesis, and subgroup analysis will be performed.Results:The effectiveness and safety of acupuncture in the treatment of T2DM with NAFLD will be assessed by the outcomes of test''s, including: imaging indicators, biomarkers of hepatic steatosis, serological indicators of hepatic fibrosis, improvement of serum NAFLD liver fat score, BMI, blood glucose indexes, blood lipid indexes, insulin level and safety indicators.Conclusion:This meta-analysis will further determine the beneficial efficacy and safety of acupuncture for T2DM combined with NAFLD.     

Efficacy of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine for the treatment of chronic nephritis: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background:Chronic nephritis is a common kidney disease that afflicts people worldwide. The disease has main manifestations of proteinuria, hematuria, edema, and hypertension that are associated with kidney-damaging processes that eventually lead to kidney failure. Traditional Chinese medicine involving combination treatment with herbal remedies and acupuncture has been shown clinically to alleviate chronic nephritis, although to date no systematic review of the efficacy of this combination treatment for this purpose has been reported, prompting this study. Here we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of published randomized clinical trials to scientific evidence and credible medical references supporting the clinical efficacy of this combination treatment when used to treat chronic nephritis.Methods:We will search the following 8 electronic Chinese and English databases: Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, China Biomedical Literature Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Scientific Journal Database, and the Wanfang database. All electronic databases will be searched from inception to October 10, 2021. All statistical analyses will be performed using Review Manager Version 5.4 provided by the Cochrane Collaboration Network.Results:The protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis will be applied to evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine for the treatment of chronic nephritis.Conclusion:We plan to submit the results of this research to a peer-reviewed journal.INPLASY registration number:INPLASY2021100051.     

Adverse events from pharmacopuncture treatment in Korea: A protocol for systematic review and meta analysis

Background:Pharmacopuncture is a combination of acupuncture and herbal medicine, which involves the injection of herbal extracts into acupuncture points (acupoints). Pharmacopuncture has become one of the major therapeutic tools used in Korea; however, safety is one of the major concerns associated with it. We aim to systematically review clinical studies on the adverse events of pharmacopuncture in Korea.Methods:To collect data on the incidence and characteristics of adverse events (AEs) and to evaluate pharmacopuncture safety, 2 or more researchers will conduct a comprehensive search of pertinent English and Korean databases using the keywords “pharmacopuncture” and “adverse events.” Regardless of the participants’ conditions or treatment types, we will include clinical studies on the AEs of pharmacopuncture. Studies that were not conducted in Korea, and acupoint injections containing Western medications, vitamins, or autologous serum will be excluded from this study. The severity of AEs will be classified using the common terminology criteria for adverse events, and the causality between pharmacopuncture and AEs will be assessed using the World Health Organization-Uppsala Monitoring Centre (WHO-UMC) causality scale. The quality of identifying and reporting the AEs will be assessed using the McHarm scale. The risk of selection bias will be assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias and the risk of bias for non-randomized studies tools. Studies will be assessed for heterogeneity utilizing Higgins''s I² statistics, and the risk of publication bias will be assessed and expressed in the form of a contour-enhanced funnel plot.Results and Conclusion:Comprehensive investigation of all types of clinical studies in Korea will provide clearer evidence of the safety of pharmacopuncture. The results of this study will be useful for traditional medical doctors and patients who use such treatments and interventions.Systematic Review Registration: Open Science Foundation (osf.io/umhyz).     

Oral administration of East Asian herbal medicine for rheumatoid arthritis: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background:Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, inflammatory, and painful joint disease. The aim of this review is to systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of oral administration East Asian herbal medicine monotherapy for inflammatory pain of RA, and to explore core herb material information based on collected data.Methods:A comprehensive literature search will be conducted in 11 electronic databases including PubMed, Cochrane Library, Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature, Excerpta Medica database, Korean Studies Information Service System, Research Information Service System Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System, Korea Citation Index, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, Wanfang data, citation information by NII for randomized controlled trials from their inception until October 13, 2021. Statistical analysis will be performed in the software R version 4.1.1. and R studio program using the default settings of the “meta” and “metafor” package. When heterogeneity in studies is detected, the cause will be identified through subgroup analysis. Methodological quality will be assessed independently using the revised tool for risk of bias in randomized trials (Rob 2.0).Results:This study will provide more comprehensive and specific evidence of East Asian herbal medicine monotherapy for RA pain management.Conclusions:Based on the results of this review, it is expected that the efficacy and safety of East Asian herbal medicine for inflammatory pain of RA may be confirmed. In addition, it will be possible to derivation of a core herb material information related to this research topic through additional data mining.Ethics and dissemination:There are no ethical issues as there are no primary data collected by directly recruiting subjects. The results of this review will be reported in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.PROSPERO registration number:CRD42021273643     

Efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese herbal medicine combined with HAART in the treatment of HIV/AIDS: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background:Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is one of the infectious diseases pandemic in the word. Traditional Chinese herbal medicine, as an alternative and complementary therapy of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), has been put into the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS over 30 years due to its good therapeutic effects and high safety, while there is a lack of evidence-based medicine support. The purpose of this study is to explore the efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese herbal medicine combined with HAART for HIV/AIDS patients.Methods:We will search all randomized controlled trials of Chinese herbal medicine combined with HAART in the treatment of HIV/AIDS from electronic databases including PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, WanFang, China Science and Technology Journal Database and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database from inception to December 31, 2021. Literature screening will be conducted through EndNote software, and data extraction will be processed according to inclusion and exclusion criteria by two independent researchers. We will use Review Manager 5.4 and Stata 16 software for data analysis and publication bias test.Results:This systematic review and meta-analysis will provide a high-quality evidence for the efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese herbal medicine combined with HAART in the treatment of HIV/AIDS.Conclusion:The conclusion of this review will provide an objective assessment to evaluate whether Chinese herbal medicine integrated with HAART has the effect of improving the efficiency and depressing the toxicity.Registration number:INPLASY2021110082.     

Efficacy and safety of cutting therapy in the treatment of migraine: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background:Migraine is a chronic paroxysmal neurovascular disease in which pain on one or both sides of the head is the main manifestation and is accompanied by other neurological manifestations. Clinical practice has shown that cutting therapy as a complementary alternative medicine can play a role in relieving migraine attacks. However, there is no consensus on the efficacy of cutting treatment in the treatment of migraine. The aim of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis to systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of cutting therapy in the treatment of migraine.Methods:First, databases were searched for relevant literature. The main databases we searched were PubMed, the Web of Science, MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library, the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, the Chinese Science Journal Database, Wanfang Data, and the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database. The keywords searched were “cutting treatment,” “ traditional Chinese medicine cutting treatment,” and “migraine.” The search was conducted from inception to November 2021. Second, 2 reviewers independently completed the process of study selection, data extraction, risk of bias assessment and data synthesis in strict accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses Protocols statement guidelines. Finally, we will use Review Manager Version 5.3 software for meta-analysis.Results:This study will provide the most recent evidence related to the treatment of migraine by cutting therapy.Conclusion:The results of this systematic evaluation will provide an objective evidence-based framework for judging the effectiveness and safety of cutting therapy in the treatment of migraine.     

Effectiveness comparisons of Chinese patent medicine on sciatica: A protocol for systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis

Background:Sciatica is one of the common clinical diseases. Studies have proved the efficacy of Chinese patent medicine (CPM) in the treatment of sciatica, so far, there has not been a complete systematic review of its effectiveness and safety, and the comparative efficacy and safety of CPM have not been ranked. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the efficacy and safety of these CPM by means of systematic review and network meta-analysis (NMA), and to compare them in order.Methods:We will search PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMbase, Web of Science, CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, CBM and other databases for RCTs of CPM in the treatment of sciatica, (database established until December 30, 2020). In addition, we will manually search the “Pharmaceutical Information”, “National Essential Drug List”, “Chinese Pharmacopoeia”, etc. to inquire about drug instructions, and screen the market circulation and clinically commonly used CPM. We will use RevMan software, gemtc package, GeMTC software for statistical analysis, and draw the surface under cumulative ranking area (SUCRA) to predict the order of curative effect of treatment measures.Results:Our study will compare and evaluate the effectiveness of CPM in the treatment of sciatica, and rank different CPM. The outcome indicators will include clinical efficacy, pain degree, lumbar spine function and adverse events.Conclusion:Our research will provide support for clinical practice.INPLASY registration number:INPLASY2020110073.     

Chinese patent medicine for functional dyspepsia effects: A protocol for systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis

Background:In recent years, many clinical studies have suggested that various Chinese patent medicines have the potential to treat functional dyspepsia (FD). This study aims to conduct a systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of different Chinese patent medicines for FD.Methods:A comprehensive retrieval method will be executed in the following databases: PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China Biology Medicine disc (CBM), VIP Database, and Wanfang Database. Clinical randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of 9 Chinese patent medicines for FD are searched, and the retrieval time is from inception to October 2021. Three reviewers will screen the RCTs that meet the inclusion criteria and extract the data independently. The outcomes include total clinical efficiency, cure rate, recurrence rate, symptom score, and adverse events. Cochrane risk-of-bias tool will be carried to assess RCTs quality. The “gemtc” package and “rjags” package in R software will be used to manage data within the Bayesian framework.Results:The results can provide relatively objective evidence to evaluate the effectiveness of these 9 Chinese patent medicines in treating FD, which may help clinicians to develop a more effective and safer treatment plan.Conclusion:This study aims to provide new options for Chinese patent medicine treatment of FD in terms of its efficacy and safety.     

Therapeutic effect of acupuncture combined montelukast sodium on cough variant asthma in children: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background:Cough variant asthma in children is a special type of asthma. Although there are many effective cases of combined acupuncture and western medicine in the clinical treatment of this kind of children, there is no standardized acupuncture combined with western medicine to evaluate the curative effect. Therefore, combined with existing reports, a systematic review and meta-analysis of acupuncture combined with montelukast sodium in the treatment of cough variant asthma in children were carried out to obtain conclusive results.Methods:The following electronic databases will be searched: PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, Web of Science, Medline, CNKI, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, VIP, and Wan Fang databases. We will consider articles published between database initiation and October 2021. We will use Review Manager 5.4, provided by the Cochrane Collaborative Network for statistical analysis. Clinical randomized controlled trials related to acupuncture combined with montelukast sodium on cough variant asthma in children were included in this study. Language is limited to both Chinese and English. Research selection, data extraction, and research quality assessments were independently completed by two researchers. We then assessed the quality and risk of the included studies and observed the outcome measures.Results:This study provides a high-quality synthesis to assess the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture combined with montelukast sodium on cough variant asthma in children.Conclusion:This systematic review will provide evidence to determine whether acupuncture combined with montelukast sodium is an effective and safe intervention for patients with cough variant asthma in children.INPLASY Registration number:INPLASY2021110006.     

Clinical efficacy and safety of modified Sijunzi decoction for the treatment of ulcerative colitis: A protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background:Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic non-specific intestinal inflammatory disease with unknown etiology. In recent years, the global incidence has been increasing. Sijunzi decoction (SJZD) is a traditional Chinese medicine that has been used for treatment of other diseases in previous studies as it has no side effects and it has a pharmacological effect in gastrointestinal function, immune system, ulcers, and tissue repair.Methods:PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, GeenMedical, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Sci-tech Journals full-text Database, Chinese Biomedical Database, and Chinese Science Citation Database were searched to screen the related literatures of “ulcerative colitis” and “Jiawei Sijunzi decoction”. The research data extracted from above studies was analyzed by Review Manager 5.3 and Stata14.2 software.Results:This systematic review and meta-analysis will evaluate the efficacy and safety of Jiawei SJZD in the treatment of UC and provide effective evidence for clinical use.Conclusion:In this study, the published evidence of modified SJZD in the treatment of UC was systematically summarized and evaluated, so that it can be better applied in clinic.INPLASY registration number:INPLASY2020100102     

Combined effects of acupuncture and auricular acupressure for relieving cancer-related fatigue in patients during lung cancer chemotherapy: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background:Increasing attention has been paid to acupuncture and auricular acupressure as alternative strategies for cancer related fatigue (CRF) management. Therefore, we design this systematic review and meta-analysis to explore the efficacy and safety of acupuncture and auricular acupressure for relieving CRF in patients during lung cancer chemotherapy.Methods:From the inception to August 2021, the Web of Science, EMBASE, PubMed, and Cochrane Library electronic databases were searched using the key phrases “acupuncture”, “auricular acupressure”, and “lung cancer” for all relevant trials. Trials that compared acupuncture (including electroacupuncture) and auricular acupressure with acupuncture alone were included. The primary outcome was the measurement of the CRF symptoms. Secondary outcome measures were physical activity, quality of life, and adverse events. A P value of <.05 was considered to be statistically significant.Results:It will be the first such study and will obtain evidence for utilizing acupuncture and auricular acupressure for lung cancer patients.Conclusion:Combined acupuncture and auricular acupressure may be effective for relieving CRF in patients during lung cancer chemotherapy.