Efficacy and safety of warm acupuncture in the treatment of ankylosing spondylitis: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Ankylosing spondylitis refers to a type of autoimmune disease, which is commonly characterized by joint pain and stiffness, since the disease progression can exhibit joint deformity and other activities limited symptoms. Has significantly impacts on people's work and life. Warm acupuncture as a traditional Chinese therapy, showing several advantages (eg, safety, economy, and less side effects), has been extensively used to treat ankylosing spondylitis. However, its curative effect is supported by limited evidence. Accordingly, the present study aims to comprehensively assess the reliability of warm acupuncture in ankylosing spondylitis treatment. METHODS: Randomized controlled trials were searched from the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, Chongqing VIP Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, PubMed, and EMBASE, regardless of their publication status. The deadline was November 6th, 2020. Two experienced researchers adopted RevMan V.5.3 software for literature selection, data collection, data analysis, and synthesis, respectively. In addition, the quality of the trials involved in this study was measured with the Cochrane Bias risk assessment tool, regardless of language or publication status. RESULTS: The protocol will be used to assess the efficacy and safety of warm acupuncture in ankylosing spondylitis treatment. CONCLUSION: This review reliably evidences whether warm acupuncture is a reliable method for the intervention of ankylosing spondylitis. INPLASY REGISTRATION NUMBER: INPLASY2020110096.