The efficacy and safety of Tanreqing injection combined with western medicine for severe pneumonia: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Tanreqing injection, as a kind of traditional Chinese medicine injection widely used in clinic, has the effects of clearing heat, reducing phlegm and detoxifying, and avoids the problems of slow effect and complicated decocting of traditional Chinese medicine. Severe pneumonia is a critical disease of the respiratory system, with symptoms such as dyspnea, shortness of breath, high fever, and coma. Clinical studies have found that Tanreqing injection combined with Western medicine has a good effect in the treatment of severe pneumonia. In order to explore the efficacy and safety of Tanreqing injection combined with antibiotics in the treatment of severe pneumonia, we plan to conduct a systematic evaluation and meta-analysis. METHODS: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the treatment of severe pneumonia with Tanreqing injection combined with western medicine were collected by searching PubMed, The Cochrane Library, Embase, Web of Science, CNKI, Wanfang Database, Weipu Database, and China Biomedical Literature Service System (CBM) by computer with the retrieval time from establishment of database to July 2020. Two researchers independently screened and extracted the literature, and finally evaluated the bias risk of the included study, and meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan5.3 software. RESULTS: The study evaluated the efficacy and safety of Tanreqing injection combined with Western medicine in the treatment of severe pneumonia in terms of total response rate, CURB-65 score, white blood cell count (WBC), antipyretic time (AT), adverse reaction incidence, etc. CONCLUSIONS: This study will provide a reliable evidence-based basis for the clinical application of Tanreqing injection in the treatment of severe pneumonia. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The private information from individuals will not be published. This systematic review also will not involve endangering participant rights. Ethical approval is not required. The results may be published in a peer-reviewed journal or disseminated in relevant conferences. OSF REGISTRATION NUMBER: DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/SQDMG.