Efficacy and safety of ShenSongYangXin Capsule combined with antiarrhythmic drugs for atrial fibrillation: A protocol for systematic review and network meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Shen-Song-Yang-Xin Capsule (SSYX), a Chinese patent medicine, combined with antiarrhythmic drugs (AADs) in the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) has been widely applied in clinical practice, but the results are controversial. This study aims to conduct a network meta-analysis (NMA) based on data from the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the efficacy and safety of SSYX combined with ADDs in the treatment of AF. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A comprehensive systematic literature search will be conducted in Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (SinoMed), Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and WanFang database for RCTs about SSYX combined with ADDs. The primary outcomes will be the frequency of AF attack and P-wave dispersion, and the secondary outcomes will be the symptom improvements, left atrial diameter, and adverse events. Statistical analyses will be conducted by using WinBUGS software (version 1.4.3), Stata software (version 14.0) and RevMan software (version 5.3). RESULTS: The results of this NMA will provide a high-quality evidence for the efficacy of SSYX combined with ADDs in the treatment of AF, and a ranking of the therapeutic classes will also be presented. CONCLUSION: The protocol will provide updated evidence for the application of SSYX for AF. INTERNATIONAL PLATFORM OF REGISTERED SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS PROTOCOLS (INPLASY) REGISTRATION NUMBER: The protocol of this systematic review and meta-analysis was registered on the INPLASY website (https://inplasy.com/inplasy-2020-8-0075/) and INPLASY registration number is INPLASY202080075.