Efficacy and safety of moxibustion in female infertility patients undergoing in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer: A systematic review protocol

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of moxibustion in infertility females/women undergoing in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET). METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will electronically search PubMed, Medline, Embase, Web of Science, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trial, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Biomedical Literature Database, China Science Journal Database, and Wan-fang Database from their inception. Also, we will manually retrieve other resources, including reference lists of identified publications, conference articles, and grey literature. The clinical randomized controlled trials or quasi-randomized controlled trials related to moxibustion in female infertility patients undergoing IVF-ET will be included in the study. The language is limited to Chinese and English. Research selection, data extraction, and research quality assessment will be independently completed by 2 researchers. Data were synthesized by using a fixed effect model or random effect model depend on the heterogeneity test. The clinical total effective rate and the clinical pregnancy rate will be the primary outcomes. Ovulation rate, endometrial thickness, hormone level, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) Syndrome Integral Scale and the adverse event will also be assessed as secondary outcomes. RevMan V.5.3 statistical software will be used for meta-analysis, and the level of evidence will be assessed by Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE). Continuous data will be expressed in the form of weighted mean difference or standardized mean difference with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), while dichotomous data will be expressed in the form of relative risk with 95% CIs. RESULTS: This study will provide a high-quality comprehensive evaluation of the efficacy and safety of moxibustion in the treatment of female infertility patients undergoing IVF-ET. CONCLUSION: This review will provide evidence to judge for judging whether moxibustion is effective in treating female infertility patients undergoing IVF-ET. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO, CRD42019135593