A prioritization regimen of the acupuncture treatment for simple obesity: Protocol for systematic review and network meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Patients with simple obesity suffer from poor quality of life, as well as high risk of hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular, and cerebrovascular accidents. Lots of Clinical trials suggested that acupuncture is beneficial for simple obesity, and it aims to gather solid evidence in order to provide reliable reference in establishing guidelines for acupuncture treatment of simple obesity in this study. METHODS: Relevant databases including Cochrane Library, PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Medline University Resource Center, Chinese Biomedical Literature Service System, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure will be retrieved from January 1950 to November 2018. Two authors will screen studies independently according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria and extract the data in a form of sheet. Quality evaluations and bias risk assessments will be performed for the methodology of included studies. Dichotomous data will be analyzed using odds ratio (OR), and continuous data using mean differences. Network meta-analysis will be conducted by using Stata 14.0. The Development and Evaluation approach will be used to rate the certainty of the evidence of estimates derived from meta-analysis. The primary outcome is body mass index (BMI), and the secondary outcomes are triglycerides, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, effective rate, adverse effects, and recurrence rate. Trial registration number is CRD42019117387. RESULTS: Based on current evidence, this review will rank the efficacy and safety of the various acupuncture regimen in decreasing BMI, triglycerides, total cholesterol of patients with simple obesity, and to summarize a prioritization regimen. CONCLUSION: This evidence may be useful for clinicians, patients, and guideline-makers to select the optimum proposal of acupuncture for the simple obesity treatment.