Acupuncture for osteoporosis: a systematic review protocol

BACKGROUND: Osteoporosis is a global high prevalence of chronic metabolic disease with serious disability-adjusted life years losing. Acupuncture is used to treat osteoporosis broadly in China and other countries although the evidence on effectiveness cannot give a certain answer. The aim of this systematic review protocol is to appraise the efficacy and safety of acupuncture for osteoporosis. METHODS: A literature search of randomized controlled trials focusing on acupuncture for osteoporosis will be performed in the databases of Medline, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, EBASE, Springer, WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wan fang, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), Chinese Scientific Journal Database (VIP), and other possible resources with a valid search strategy. Outcomes of pain, bone mineral density, fracture, mortality, improvement proportion, biochemical indicators, quality of life, adverse event, and other valid will be extracted and merged for quantitative analysis using Review Manager software (V.5.3.5) or descriptive analysis correspondingly. DISCUSSION: This is the first systematic review to estimate the effect of acupuncture on osteoporosis, and the result may provide evidence to clinical doctor. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42016037829