Effects of qiming granule for diabetic macular edema: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Diabetic macular edema is a further complication of diabetes. It is an important type of diabetic eye disease and the main cause of blindness of diabetic patients. Qiming granule is a Chinese patent medicine widely used in the treatment of diabetic macular edema. There are some reports about this medicine for macular edema. At present, there is only 1 systematic review on qiming granule in the treatment of diabetic macular edema. However, there are many defects in this article, so it is necessary to re-summarize and evaluate the existing evidence. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Three English database and 4 Chinese databases other sources will be searched. Two methodological trained researchers will read the title, abstract and full texts, and independently select the qualified literature according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. After assessment of the risk of bias and data extraction, we will conduct meta-analyses for outcomes including central macular thickness, optimum corrected vision, overall effect rates, and adverse effects. The heterogeneity of data will be investigated by Cochrane χ(2) and I(2) tests. We build 3 hypotheses for subgroup analysis according to the guidance for a credible subgroup effect: Disease status at baseline, duration of intervention, type of concomitant medication. Sensitivity analysis will be conducted to evaluate the stability of the results. Then publication bias assessment will be conducted by funnel plot analysis and Egger test. Finally, we will use the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluate system to evaluate the quality of evidence. RESULTS: The results of our research will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. CONCLUSION: In our study, the evidence of qiming granule in the treatment of macular edema was comprehensively summarized and carefully evaluated. It will provide more options for clinical treatment of the disease. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42018108626.