Oriental herbal medicine for insomnia in the elderly with hypertension: A systematic review protocol

BACKGROUND: Hypertension and insomnia are common diseases in the elderly. Oriental herbal medicine has been widely used in East Asia, and it has been considered as a promising alternative to conventional pharmacotherapy because of its efficacy in geriatrics. Moreover, since oriental herbal medicine acts on multiple targets, it may affect both hypertension and insomnia at the same time, which can reduce the risk of polypharmacy in this population. This systematic review will assess the efficacy and safety of oriental herbal medicine in the elderly with both insomnia and hypertension. METHODS: Thirteen databases including English, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese databases will be searched from their inception to August 2018. We will include randomized controlled trials assessing oriental herbal medicine for insomnia in the elderly with hypertension. The methodological quality of the included studies will be evaluated using the Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias tool, and confidence in the cumulative evidence will be evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation instrument. RESULTS: This review will provide evidence to determine the efficacy and safety of oriental herbal medicine in the elderly with both insomnia and hypertension. CONCLUSIONS: Our results will help clinicians and health policy makers take informed decisions regarding the use of oriental herbal medicine in the elderly. It will also provide evidence-based oriental herbal medicine data for elderly patients suffering from multiple diseases and their families.