Effectiveness and safety of auricular acupuncture for psoriasis: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Psoriasis is a chronic, immune-mediated, polygenic skin disease that is common in clinical practice and often develops on the extremities, back, and scalp of patients. In that psoriasis lesions are stubborn and prone to recurrence, it has a serious impact on patients’ quality of life and is detrimental to their physical and psychological health. Auricular acupuncture is one of the traditional Chinese medical treatments, which has the advantages of low adverse effects and simple operation and has been widely used in clinical practice with good efficacy. However, there has been no systematic evaluation of auricular acupuncture in the treatment of psoriasis. This protocol aims to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of auricular acupuncture in patients with psoriasis. METHODS: We will search the following 8 databases including PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CNKI, Wan Fang, VIP, and CBM databases for randomized controlled trials of auricular acupuncture treated psoriasis from their inception to 10 October 2022. We will analyze the data meeting the inclusion criteria with the RevMan V.5.4 software. Two authors will assess the quality of the study with the Cochrane systematic evaluation tool. Treatment effectiveness and the psoriasis area and severity index are defined as the main outcomes, and the additional outcomes include itchy, dermatology life quality index, relapse rate, and adverse events. RESULTS: This study will review and evaluate the available evidence on the effectiveness and safety of auricular acupuncture for psoriasis. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study will provide evidence for the effectiveness and safety of treating psoriasis, providing clinicians and patients with appropriate treatment options for this disease.