Acupoint catgut embedding therapy for functional constipation: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: This review will assess current evidence related to the effectiveness and safety of acupoint catgut embedding therapy for functional constipation (FC) and provide efficacy assessments for clinical applications. METHODS: We will search the following databases for relevant trials: PubMed, EMBASE OVID, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, OVID MEDLINE, Web of Science, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cochrane library, and Scopus. We will also search the following Chinese databases for trials published in the Chinese literature: China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database (CNKI), Chinese Scientific Journals Database, Wan Fang Database, Chinese Biomedicine and other resources from inception to December 2020. Only randomized controlled trials comparing acupoint catgut embedding versus acupuncture or sham acupuncture or placebo or other therapies will be included. The outcomes involved mean spontaneous bowel movements, complete spontaneous bowel movements, the Bristol Stool Form Scale, the Cleveland Clinic Score, Patient Assessment of Constipation symptom and so on. The risk of bias assessment and quality of evidence for outcomes will be appraised using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool and the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation guidelines. RevMan 5.3 software will be employed for the meta-analysis. RESULTS: This work will compare and arrange the comparative efficacy of acupoint catgut embedding with different treatments for FC by summarizing the current evidences. CONCLUSION: The results of this meta-analysis may help doctors determine the best treatments for patients to manage FC. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This is a protocol with no patient recruitment and personal information collection, approval by the ethics committee is not required. OSF REGISTRATION NUMBER: DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/XTKE2.