Acupuncture for patients with myasthenia gravis: A systematic review protocol

BACKGROUND: The objective of this systematic review protocol is to provide the methods for evaluating the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture on the treatment of myasthenia gravis (MG). METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will search randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on this subject in 8 electronic databases and they are Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), the Wan-Fang Database, and Chinese Scientific Journal Database (VIP database). Other relevant literatures will be manually searched as a complement. Only RCTs related to acupuncture for MG will be included, without Language restrictions and limitation of publication types. The risk of bias and trial quality will be assessed by the Cochrane collaboration tool. The study inclusion, data extraction and quality assessment will be conducted independently by 2 reviewers. All data from the studies included will be analyzed by RevMan V.5.3 statistical software. RESULTS: This study will provide a high-quality synthesis of RCTs on the efficacy and safety of acupuncture as an adjuvant therapy in the treatment of MG. CONCLUSION: This systemic review will provide high quality evidence to evaluate acupuncture as adjuvant therapy in patients with MG. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: PROSPERO CRD42019133577.