Postauricular injection in the treatment of all-frequency and high frequency descending sudden hearing loss: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Sudden hearing loss (SHL) is a disease, at the same time a symptom, which needs to be treated in a timely manner and counts as an emergency health problem in the Department of Otolaryngology. There are many types of sudden hearing loss and among them, the occurrence of all-frequency descending sudden hearing loss and high frequency sudden hearing loss are high. The conventional treatment for these 2 types of sudden hearing loss sometimes is not as effective as expected. Postauricular injection of glucocorticoids could be the most effective treatment method. However, the effectiveness and safety of postauricular injection of glucocorticoid needs to be assessed systematically. METHODS: The protocol for the meta-analysis was conducted under the guidance of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P). The aim is to undertake a systematic review and meta-analysis on the effectiveness and safety of postauricular injection of glucocorticoid to treat patient diagnosed with all-frequency and high frequency descending sudden hearing loss. We searched through the following databases: English databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science) and Chinese databases (CNKI, Wanfang databases, CBM, VIP). The final selected articles will be evaluated using Cochrane RCT evaluation criteria. Revman 5.0 will be used for data analysis. Subgroup analysis, sensitivity analysis, and meta regression will detect sources of heterogeneity. Ethics approval was not required for this protocol. The findings will be disseminated through journal articles or conference presentations. OSF REGISTRATION NUMBER: DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/5Q9NA RESULTS: Objectively, evaluate the efficacy and safety of postauricular injection of glucocorticoid in treating all-frequency descending sudden hearing loss and high frequency sudden hearing loss. CONCLUSION: To provide evidence-based medicine for glucocorticoid treatment methods in patients with all-frequency descending sudden hearing loss and high frequency descending hearing loss.