Effectiveness and safety of acupuncture and moxibustion for chronic prostatitis: A protocol for an overview of systematic reviews and meta-analysis

Chronic prostatitis (CP) refers to a disease characterized by local pain and discomfort, urination discomfort, and quality of life. Acupuncture (ACU) and moxibustion are widely used in the treatment of CP, and the curative effect is satisfactory. Several systematic reviews (SRs) and meta-analyzes have reported the effectiveness of ACU and moxibustion in treating patients with CP. However, the evidence is not systematically integrated. This overview aims to integrate and evaluate the reliability of these SRs and the evidence generated from the ACU and moxibustion for CP meta-analysis. METHODS: We will make a comprehensive retrieval in seven databases as following: Embase, Cochrane Library, Pubmed, Chinese databases SinoMed (previously called the Chinese Biomedical Database), Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Scientific Journals Database (VIP), and Wanfang Data (WF). The time is limited from the construction of the library to May 2021. We will use the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews-2 (AMSTAR-2) tool to evaluate methodological quality. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) will be used in the report checklist to assess the quality of reports in the study. The GRADE will be used to evaluate the included SRs and meta-analysis. Our reviewers will conduct SRs, qualification evaluation, data extraction, methodological quality and evidence quality screening in pairs. The outcomes of interest include: NIH-Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (NIH-CPSI), effective rate, other CP symptom scales, EPS-WBC, and adverse events. Evidence will be combined based on patient subgroups and results where appropriate. RESULTS: The results will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: INPLASY202150018. CONCLUSION: This overview will provide comprehensive evidence of ACU and moxibustion for patients with CP.