Effectiveness comparisons of acupuncture for chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome: A Bayesian network meta-analysis protocol

BACKGROUND: Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) is a common urinary system disease in the male population. Recent studies have shown that acupuncture can alleviate the pain caused by CP/CPPS to a certain extent and improve the quality of life of patients. This study used a network meta-analysis (NMA) to compare the effectiveness and safety of different forms of acupuncture on CP/CPPS. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will search for PubMed, Cochrane Library, AMED, EMbase, WorldSciNet; Nature, Science online and China Journal Full-text Database, China Biomedical Literature CD-ROM Database, and related randomized controlled trials (RCTs) included in the China Resources Database. The time is limited from the construction of the library to December 2018. The quality of the included RCTs will be evaluated with the risk of bias tool and evidence will be evaluated by grading of recommendations assessment, development, and evaluation. STATA 13.0 and WinBUGS 1.4.3 through the GeMTC package will be used to perform a NMA to synthesize direct and indirect evidence. RESULTS: The results of this NMA will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for publication. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: PROSPERO CRD42018111408.