Determining the Efficacy and Safety of Acupuncture for the Preventive Treatment of Menstrual Migraine: A Protocol for a PRISMA-Compliant Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND: Menstrual migraine (MM), as a common type of headache related to women’s menstrual cycle, currently available treatments do not produce sufficient effectiveness, making it remains difficult to manage. Although acupuncture may be an effective treatment for MM, there is a lack of convincing evidence to recommend acupuncture to patients with MM until more solid evidence is produced. Therefore, the purpose of our systematic review (SR) and meta-analysis protocol is to synthesize up-to-date evidence regarding the clinical efficacy and safety of acupuncture on MM. METHODS: To find qualifying RCTs, nine databases will be searched. RevMan 5.3 will be used to combine the retrieved data for meta-analyses. The Cochrane risk of bias instrument will be used to assess the methodological quality of each included trial. The strength and certainty of the evidence will be evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) system. Additionally, we will undertake sensitivity analyses, publication bias, and subgroup analyses if available. DISCUSSION: Our SR and meta-analysis protocol will contribute to determining acupuncture’s therapeutic effect and safety in the preventive treatment of MM. Based on the up-to-date evidence produced by the subsequent SR and meta-analysis, informed treatment decisions will be made by patients, physicians and policy makers.