Efficacy and safety of Shenfu injection in the treatment of sepsis: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Sepsis is a syndrome of infection-induced systemic inflammatory response. Conventional treatment combined with Shenfu injection (SFI) has been previously validated clinical effective in alleviating inflammatory response in patients with septic shock. However, evidence-based medical evidence is scant. Herein, we designed the protocol of a proposed study based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines, aiming to systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of SFI in patients with sepsis. METHODS: Eligible studies reporting the efficacy and safety of SFI in the treatment of sepsis published before August 2021 will be searched from online databases, including the PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, Ovid, the Cochrane Library, Wanfang Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and China Biology Medicine Disc. The literature selection process will be reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis guidelines. After data extraction and methodological quality evaluation, Stata 12.0 software will be used to synthesize the data through fixed/random effects of meta-analysis models. RESULTS: The results of this meta-analysis will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for publication. CONCLUSION: This study will provide reliable evidence-based basis for the clinical application of SFI in the treatment of sepsis. OSF REGISTRATION NUMBER: DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/KCMDQ.