Background: Chinese medicine injections (CMIs) are extensively applied to the therapy of acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) in mainland China. Up to 13 different kinds of CMIs are reportedly often used for treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, yet, rarely head to head comparison of tests are used to decide the relative consequent among the distinct CMIs. Network meta-analysis (NMA) will be performed to further compare the effects of 13 different CMI, including direct and indirect comparisons of different CMI.
Methods: From now until April 2019, a systematic and comprehensive literature search will be conducted in both English and Chinese databases, including Medline, Embase, Cochrane library, Chongqing VIP information, Wanfang Database, China national knowledge infrastructure database, and Sino Med. Randomized controlled trials will be included related to CMI therapy for AECOPD. We will assess the quality of the included trials in accordance with the risk of bias tools in Cochrane manual 5.1.0. We will use the grading of recommendations assessment development, and evaluation method to assess the certainty of the estimated evidence from the NMA. STATA 14.0 will be used for data analysis.
Results: The purpose of this systematic evaluation and NMA was to summarize and rank the direct and indirect evidence for 8 different types of CMI. The NMA's findings will be reported in accordance with preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta analyses-NMA statement. Upon completion, NMA results will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal.
Conclusion: With NMA, this study will provide evidence for the selection of CMI for patients with AECOPD. The results will provide information to clinicians, bridge the evidence gap and identify promising CMI targets for future trials.
Prospero registration number: PROSPERO CRD 42019132955.