Traditional Chinese medicine on treating chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) is a common urinary system disease in the male population. Recent studies have shown that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) can alleviate the pain caused by CP/CPPS to a certain extent and improve the quality of life of patients. In this systematic review, we aim to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of TCM for chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will search for PubMed, Cochrane Library, AMED, EMbase, WorldSciNet; Nature, Science online and China Journal Full-text Database (CNKI), China Biomedical Literature CD-ROM Database (CBM), and related randomized controlled trials included in the China Resources Database. The time is limited from the construction of the library to May 2019. The quality of the included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) will be evaluated with the risk of bias (ROB) tool and evidence will be evaluated by Grading of Recommendations Assessment Development and Evaluation (GRADE). STATA 13.0 and Revman 5.3 will be used to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to synthesize direct and indirect evidence. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This systematic review will evaluate the efficacy and safety of TCM for treating chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome. Because all of the data used in this systematic review and meta-analysis has been published, this review does not require ethical approval. Furthermore, all data will be analyzed anonymously during the review process trial. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: PROSPERO CRD42019131527