Effectiveness and safety of warm needle acupuncture on chronic renal failure: Protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Warm needle acupuncture (WNA) is an integral part of the acupuncture therapy. Chronic renal failure (CRF) is a common disease, which is a type of kidney disease characterized by a slow and progressive decline in renal function. The clinical practice indicates that WNA has a therapeutic effect on CRF. Therefore, we will provide a protocol to explore the effectiveness and safety of WNA for CRF. METHODS: We will search the randomized controlled trials literatures of WNA for CRF in 5 English databases (PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials [Cochrane Library], and World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform) and 4 Chinese databases (Chinese national knowledge infrastructure, Chinese Scientific Journal Database Information, Wanfang Database, and Chinese biomedical literature database). The renal function will be considered as the primary outcome and the secondary outcome will include curative effect, security, syndrome according to standards for assessing traditional Chinese medicine, adverse events caused by WNA, such as dizziness, nausea, vomiting, weariness, and so on. We will use EndnoteX7 software to perform the selection of the studies. And all analyses will be conducted by using RevMan software V5.3. RESULT: This study will provide a rational synthesis of current evidences for WNM on CRF. CONCLUSION: The conclusion of this study will provide evidence to judge the effectiveness and safety of WNA on CRF. Registration: PROS-PERO CRD42019144530