Effectiveness of Chinese patent medicine in the treatment of influenza: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Western medicine mainly uses antiviral drugs to treat influenza. However, anti-influenza virus drugs have been reported to have high levels of drug resistance and varying degrees of adverse reactions. In addition, Western medicine uses vaccination to prevent influenza, but vaccination cannot ensure complete prevention. Vaccines have a certain lag and cannot prevent the constantly mutating influenza virus. At present, there are still certain limitations in the prevention of influenza. In recent years, traditional Chinese medicine has been used more and more widely in the prevention and treatment of influenza and improvement of influenza-like symptoms, and related clinical efficacy control studies have reached a certain number. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to systematically evaluate the effectiveness of Chinese patent medicine in the treatment of influenza. METHODS: Computer search of PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, CNKI, Wangfang and VIP database, search for randomized controlled trials of Chinese patent medicines therapy on influenza, the search time limit is to build the database until October 2021. Two researchers screened the retrieved literature and collected relevant patient information and data. The final included literature was meta analyzed by Rev man5.4 software. RESULTS: The effectiveness and safety of Chinese patent medicines in the treatment of patients with influenza will be systematically evaluated. CONCLUSION: Systematic collection and analysis of clinical randomized controlled trials of Chinese patent medicines for the treatment of influenza, with a view to providing basic information for clinical decision-making and related research. REGISTRATION NUMBER: INPLASY2021100064 (https://inplasy.com/inplasy-2021- 10-0064/).