Acupuncture for diabetic neurogenic bladder: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Diabetic neurogenic bladder (DNB) is one of the common complications of diabetes mellitus, which has a high prevalence rate. Some research suggested that acupuncture can improve the clinical symptoms of diabetic neurogenic bladder patients, but there is no systematic review or meta-analysis to assess this therapy. Therefore, this study aims to explore the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for patients with DNB. METHODS: In this study, we will search for electronic databases including the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wan-Fang, and Baidu Scholar Database from inception to December 2020. We will select randomized controlled trials that have been published in English or Chinese related to acupuncture for DNB. Selection of study, extraction of data, and assessment of study quality will be performed independently by 2 researchers, and we will use Revman 5.3 software which is provided by Cochrane assistance network, to perform the data analysis. RESULTS: This study will provide evidence of the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for DNB. CONCLUSION: This study will clarify whether acupuncture is an effective treatment for DNB, and will also provide a reference for clinical practice and guidelines development.