Internal treatment in traditional Chinese medicine for patients with COVID-19: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: The safety and effectiveness of Internal Treatment in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) on Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the main subject of this protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis. METHODS: The following online databases will be searched from inception to April 2020: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, Wan-Fang Database, and Chinese Scientific Journal Database. All published randomized controlled trials in English or Chinese related to Internal Treatment in Traditional Chinese Medicine for COVID-19 will be included. Primary outcomes are time of disappearance of main symptoms and serum cytokine levels. Secondary outcomes is Accompanying symptoms disappear rate, negative COVID-19 results rate on 2 consecutive occasions CT image improvement, average hospitalization time, occurrence rate of common type to severe form, clinical cure rate, and mortality. Two reviewers will conduct the study selection, data extraction, and assessment independently. The assessment of risk of bias and data synthesis will be conducted with Review Manager Software V.5.2. RESULTS: The results will provide a high-quality synthesis of current evidence for researchers in this subject area. CONCLUSION: The conclusion of our study will provide evidence to judge whether the internal treatment in traditional Chinese medicine is an effective intervention for COVID-19 patients. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42020180178.