Pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments for opioid-induced constipation: A protocol for systematic review and network meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Pain is very common and its management with a huge burden for patients and the healthcare system. And the network meta-analysis was designed to provide reference for the clinical practice. METHODS: PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane library, CNKI, VIP, Wan Fang, and CBM will be systematically searched their inception to November 2018. Randomized controlled trials that compared the effect of differently pharmacological or non-pharmacological treatments for opioid-induced constipation will be included. The primary outcome is the efficacy of therapeutic regimens. Risk of bias assessment of the included studies will be performed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. A network meta-analysis will be performed using STATA 13.0 software with WinBUGS 1.4.3 software. Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation will be used to assess the overall quality of evidence. RESULTS: This study is ongoing and will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for publication. CONCLUSION: This study will provide a comprehensive evidence on the effectiveness and safety of pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments for opioid-induced constipation. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42018116533.