Pharmacological treatments for patients with irritable bowel syndrome: An umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses

INTRODUCTION: Several pharmacological treatments are beneficial for patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and there are numbers of systematic reviews evaluating the effectiveness of these treatments. However, the overall quality of the evidence has not been quantitatively assessed. The aim of this study is to evaluate the possible biases in the published systematic reviews and determine the treatments with reliable evidence. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will perform an umbrella review to identify eligible systematic reviews. A comprehensive literature search will be conducted in MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane library for systematic reviews. We will describe the general information such as participants, interventions, outcome measurements, and conclusion. Additionally, the heterogeneity and inconsistency between trials will be assessed by the I(2) statistical test and Cochrane Q test. We will assess risk of bias, and summarize the strength evidence. CONCLUSION: The umbrella reviews will assess the reliability of the evidence so that doctors and patients can make better medical choices. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42018109597