Prognostic factors for venous thrombosis in patients with peripherally inserted central catheters: Protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) has become increasingly popular in clinical practice because of the ease and safety of insertion and lower cost-effectiveness. The precise incidence and risk of PICC-related venous thrombosis is important to be verified in the context of growing PICC use and an understanding of the risk of venous thrombosis is an important cost and patient safety question. METHOD: We will search seven electronic databases including the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Chinese BioMedical Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese VIP and Wangfang Database regardless of publication date or language. All studies with prognostic factor analysis will be included if they recruited participants with PICC. Primary outcomes will include venous thrombosis. The risk of bias will be assessed by 2 authors using quality in prognostic studies tool. If possible, a meta-analysis in fixed or random effects model will be conducted by R-3.5.1 software, otherwise a narrative synthesis will ensue focusing on prognostic factors. The confidence in cumulative evidence will be assessed by Based on the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation. RESULTS: The aim of this study is to retrieve, appraise and summarize the clinical evidence of risk assessment for PICC-related venous thrombosis. CONCLUSIONS: This study will assess the precise incidence and risk of venous thrombosis in patients with PICC and provide references for establishing relevant assessment tools. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study is a protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis of prognostic factors for venous thrombosis in PICC patients. This review will be published in a journal and disseminated in print by peer-review.