Acupuncture for treating sciatica: a systematic review protocol

INTRODUCTION: This systematic review aims to assess the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for treating sciatica. METHODS: The following nine databases will be searched from their inception to 30 October 2014: MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), the Chinese Medical Current Content (CMCC), the Chinese Scientific Journal Database (VIP database), the Wan-Fang Database, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Citation Information by National Institute of Informatics (CiNii). Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture for sciatica in English, Chinese or Japanese without restriction of publication status will be included. Two researchers will independently undertake study selection, extraction of data and assessment of study quality. Meta-analysis will be conducted after screening of studies. Data will be analysed using risk ratio for dichotomous data, and standardised mean difference or weighted mean difference for continuous data. DISSEMINATION: This systematic review will be disseminated electronically through a peer-reviewed publication or conference presentations. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: PROSPERO CRD42014015001.