Efficacy and safety of moxibustion in patients with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome: A systematic review protocol

BACKGROUND: Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) is a common urogenital disease. Moxibustion is a complementary treatment option for CP/CPPS. This systematic review will assess the efficacy and safety of moxibustion as a sole or add-on therapy for CP/CPPS. METHODS: We will retrieve randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of moxibustion for CP/CPPS from the following databases: PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, VIP, Chinese Biomedical Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, Wanfang Data, Chinese Medicine Database System, Google Scholar, Clinicaltrials.gov, and China Clinical Trial Registry from their inception to March 9, 2019, without language restrictions. RCTs comparing moxibustion with active drugs or moxibustion + drugs with these same drugs alone will be included. Primary outcomes will be the change in the total score of the National Institutes of Health's Chronic Prostatic Inflammatory States Index (NIH-CPSI) after moxibustion treatment. Secondary outcomes will include the scores of the individual NIH-CPSI domains, response to treatment of CP/CPPS, leucocyte and phosphatidylcholine corpuscle count in prostatic fluid, incidence of adverse events (AEs), and incidence of moxibustion-related AEs. The Cochrane risk of bias tool will be used for evaluating the risk of bias of individual trials. Heterogeneity will be detected by the Cochran Q test and I-square test. A random-effects model will be used to pool data in the meta-analysis. Risk ratio and weighted or standardized mean difference will be used as the effect measures. Three sets of subgroup analyses will be performed to explore the sources of heterogeneity. Where appropriate, we will assess the likelihood of publication bias based on funnel plots and quantitative tests. RESULTS: This study will produce the systematic review evidence regarding moxibustion for treating CP/CPPS based on current RCTs. CONCLUSION: This study will provide a clear basis for understanding the efficacy and adverse reactions of moxibustion treatment for CP/CPPS. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42019121338.