Efficacy and safety of astragalus injection combined with Western medicine in the treatment of early diabetic nephropathy: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the most common microvascular complication of diabetes. Its clinical manifestation is proteinuria, and it is a common cause of renal failure. At present, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) and angiotensin II receptor antagonists are often used to treat early DN, and they have good curative effect. On this basis, the treatment of early DN with the combination of astragalus injection is becoming more and more widespread. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to prove the efficacy and safety of astragalus injection combined with Western medicine in the treatment of early DN, and to provide reference value for clinical practice in the future. METHODS: English databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library) and Chinese databases (China National Knowledge Infrastructur, Wanfang, VP Information Chinese Journal Service Platform, China Biology Medicine disc) will be searched by computer. From the establishment of the database to February 2021, a randomized controlled trial of astragalus injection combined with Western medicine in the treatment of early DN will be conducted. Two researchers independently evaluate the quality of the included study and extract the data. Included literature is analyzed by Meta with RevMan5.3 software. RESULTS: In this study, the efficacy and safety of astragalus injection combined with Western medicine in the treatment of early DN are evaluated by serological indexes such as Urinary albumin excretion rates (UAER), serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen, as well as the adverse reactions of drugs. CONCLUSION: This study will provide reliable evidence-based evidence for astragalus injection combined with Western medicine for the treatment of early DN. OSF REGISTRATION NUMBER: DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/A9JGP