The benefits of Qigong exercise for symptoms of fatigue: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: About 5% to 20% of the general population suffers from continuous fatigue, which is also one of the most frequent symptoms seen in primary medical care. Fatigue, if not effectively relieved, may have an adverse effect on the quality of life and treatment of patients. Qigong is a safe and comfortable exercise popular in China and among the Ethnic Chinese, and is a complementary therapy used to treat fatigue, such as cancer related fatigue and chronic fatigue syndrome. It appears promising but lacks convincing evidence; thus, necessitating further investigation. METHODS: Eight databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, China Biology Medicine disc, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, WanFang and VIP Data Knowledge Service Platform) will be searched from inception to November 30, 2020 for randomized controlled trials published in English or Chinese investigating the outcomes of the Qigong exercise (QE) for symptoms of fatigue and quality of life. We will also include additional references of relevant published studies by manually retrieving reference lists of included literature and previous relevant reviews. For articles that meet the inclusion criteria, 2 reviewers will independently conduct the study selection, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment. The results of the outcome measures will be reported in risk ratios for dichotomous data and standard mean differences for continuous data. If necessary, we will also perform subgroup analyses and analyze the causes. RESULTS: The results of this review will be submitted to a journal for publication. CONCLUSION: This systematic review protocol aims to analyze whether QE is effective in treating fatigue associated with various disease. REGISTRATION: INPLASY2020110133.