Effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for treatment of tinnitus: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Tinnitus is a common disease in otolaryngology. In China, acupuncture has been used as a promising treatment for tinnitus. Yet, the specific effect and safety of acupuncture are still disputable. The ultimate goal of this paper is to formulate a protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis, which can be employed in assessing the benefits and safety of acupuncture on tinnitus. METHODS: Seven databases should be retrieved from their establishment until June 2020, including PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Excerpt Medical Database, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Wan Fang Database. Randomized controlled trials of acupuncture treatment of tinnitus will be included. The experimental group is acupuncture or combined with additional treatment measures, and the control group is a placebo, sham acupuncture, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, sound therapy, conventional medication, or same additional treatment. The clinical efficacy rate, Tinnitus Handicap Inventory, Tinnitus Questionnaire, visual analogue scale or other indicators are all concerned in the systematic evaluation of the program. Data collection, selection and extraction should be made separately by different researchers. The quality of the literature will be evaluated by the bias analysis table in the Cochrane Handbook, and Review Manager 5.3 software shall be applied to data analysis. RESULTS: This protocol has made a concrete plan to evaluate whether acupuncture is effective and safe in curing tinnitus. CONCLUSION: This protocol is suitable for evaluating the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture in curing tinnitus, and is helpful for subsequent evaluation. Open Science Framework Registration DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/85FCS.