Effectiveness of acupuncture for treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy

BACKGROUND: This study will assess the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for the treatment of patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). METHODS: We will comprehensively search electronic databases of MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, Chinese Scientific Journal Database, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure from their inception to July 1, 2019. We will also search grey literature to avoid missing any potential studies. Randomized controlled trials related to acupuncture for the treatment of DPN will be included. All record literatures are searched without language limitation. Two researchers will independently carry out research selection, data extraction, and research quality evaluation. We will perform RevMan 5.3 software for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Primary outcomes consist of severity of neuropathy and pain intensity. Secondary outcomes include diabetes mellitus duration, body mass index, HbA1c level, blood glucose levels, and adverse events. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study will summarize recent evidence for the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for the treatment of patients with DPN. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: We will not analyze individual data, thus no ethic approval is needed. The results of this study are expected to be published at a peer-reviewed journal. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: PROSPERO CRD42019139635.