Comparative efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese patent medicine for anxiety disorders in children or adolescence: A protocol for systematic review and network meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Anxiety is the most common mental illness among adolescents and children, and its incidence is increasing year by year, which has a serious adverse effect on the academic and growth of adolescents and children. Conventional treatment methods such as oral administration of western medicine and psycho-behavioral therapy have obvious limitations. Chinese patent medicines play an irreplaceable role in the treatment of this disease. At present, there is no comparison of the safety and effectiveness of various Chinese patent medicines curing anxiety in adolescents. So we take advantage of the method of network meta-analysis to systematically compare the efficacy of various Chinese patent medicines curing this disease. METHODS: We will systematically and comprehensively search the following databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library, China BioMedical Literature (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Scientific Journals Database (VIP), and Wanfang database. We will include all RCT trials that meet the inclusion criteria, starting from the establishment of the database until August 2020. Two researchers will independently screen the literature based on inclusion criteria. While extracting data, we also assess the risk of bias in the included studies. All the data and evidence obtained will be evaluated by the method of Bayesian network meta-analysis. STATA and WinBUGS software will be used. RESULTS: This study will evaluate the effectiveness and safety of various TCPMs for anxiety disorders in children or adolescence. CONCLUSION: The results of this study will provide valuable references for the clinical application of Traditional Chinese patent medicines, and assist clinicians in formulating more reasonable diagnosis and treatment strategies. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study does not require ethical approval. INPLASY REGISTRATION NUMBER: INPLASY202080048.