Safety and efficacy of Chinese herbal tonics for the treatment of olfactory disorders caused by the Delta strain in COVID-19: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an acute respiratory infectious disease that makes breathing difficult and is often accompanied by olfactory disorders and distension. Chinese herbal tonics, a special external treatment of traditional Chinese medicine, has shown beneficial effects in the treatment of olfactory disorders. Currently, there is a lack of systematic reviews on Chinese herbal tonics for the treatment of olfactory disorders. We conduct this study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal tonics in the treatment of olfactory disorders. This study is designed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Chinese herbal tonics for olfactory disorders in COVID-19. METHODS: Randomized controlled trials from December 2019 to September 2022. will be included, without restrictions on language or publication date. PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Chinese Biomedical Databases, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Database, and VIP Database were searched. Two researchers will independently select studies, extract data, and evaluate study quality. The Cochrane risk of bias tool for randomized trials will be used to assess the risk of bias in the included studies. Statistical analyses will be conducted using the Review Manager (RevMan 5.3, Cochrane Collaboration, Nordic Cochrane Center, Copenhagen, Denmark). RESULTS: This study aimed to prove the efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal tonics for olfactory disorders in patients with COVID-19. Our study provides a more accurate treatment method for olfactory disorders during COVID-19.We will publish our results in a peer-reviewed journal.