Chinese herbal medicine for assisted reproduction technology: A protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Human assisted reproductive technology (ART) has become an important part of infertility treatments throughout the world, including IVF, ICSI, embryo culture, and embryo cryopreservation. In China and East Asia, Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has been used to treat various diseases and improves the success chance of live birth among infertile couples undergoing ART treatment. The aim of this study is to assess the effect and safety of Chinese herbal medicine among women undergoing ART. METHODS: Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CNKI, VIP, CBM and WANGFANG will be searched. All randomized controlled trials will be included if they recruited participants undergoing ART for assessing the effect and safety of Chinese herbal medicine. Primary outcomes will be live birth. Two authors will independently scan all the potential articles, extract the data and assess the risk of bias using Cochrane tool of risk of bias. Based on the guideline of Cochrane Collaboration, all analysis will be performed by RevMan 5.3 software. Dichotomous variables will be expressed as RR with 95% CIs and continuous variables will be reported as MD with 95% CIs. If possible, a fixed or random effects models will be conducted and the confidence of cumulative evidence will be assess using GRADE. RESULTS: This study will be to assess the effect and safety of Chinese herbal medicine among women undergoing ART. CONCLUSIONS: This study will assess the effect and safety of Chinese herbal medicine among women undergoing ART and move forward to help inform clinical decisions.