Efficacy and safety of acupuncture combined Chinese herbal medicine for diabetic peripheral neuropathy: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine has been widely utilized for pain management in patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). However, its results are still inconsistent, and no systematic review has specifically addressed this issue. Thus, this systematic review will comprehensively and systematically investigate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine for pain relief in DPN. METHODS: Randomized controlled trials on acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine treatment of DPN published before September of 2021 will be searched in 9 databases including Medline, Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Excerpta Medica Database, Sinomed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, WanFang, and China Science and Technology Journal Database. The methodological assessment performed using the risk of bias assessment tool of Cochrane, and the level of evidence quality for the main results will be evaluated by a recommended grading, evaluation, formulation, and evaluation system approach. Bayesian network meta-analysis will be conducted using STATA V.14.0 and WinBUGS V.1.4.3. RESULTS: This study will provide a high-quality comprehensive evaluation of the safety of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine for treating DPN. CONCLUSION: This systematic review will evaluate the efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal medicine combined with acupuncture in the treatment of DPN, and provide the latest evidence for clinical application. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The protocol of the systematic review does not require ethical approval because it does not involve humans. This article will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at relevant conferences. Registration number: INPLASY2021100004.