Efficacy of Duohuojisheng decoction monotherapy for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis: A protocol of a systematic review of randomized controlled trials

BACKGROUND: This systematic review investigates the efficacy and safety of Duohuojisheng decoction (DHJSD) monotherapy for the treatment of patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). METHODS: We searched relevant studies on DHJSD monotherapy for KOA from the databases of CENTRAL, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, VIP Information, and Wanfang Data from the inception to January 1, 2019. Two researchers independently selected studies, collected data, and assessed the methodology quality by using Cochrane risk of bias tool. RESULTS: This study evaluates the efficacy and safety of DHJSD monotherapy for KOA by assessing the pain intensity, stiffness, and disability of affected knee joints, and quality of life, as well as the adverse events. CONCLUSION: The results of this study provide latest updated evidence of DHJSD monotherapy alone for KOA. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: No ethical approval is required for this systematic review, because it is based on the published data, and not on individual patient data. Its findings is published in a peer-reviewed journal. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: PROSPERO CRD42019120405.