Plum-blossom needle for coronavirus disease 2019-related headache: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Assessing the effectiveness and safety of plum-blossom needle for (COVID-19) related headache is the main purpose of this systematic review protocol.

Methods: We will search the following sources for the identification of trials: The Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure Database (CNKI), Chinese Science and Technique Journals Database (VIP), and the Wanfang Database. The searches were limited to articles published in 2020, but no language restrictions were imposed. Only include randomised controlled trials (RCTs), with or without blinding, and participant or observer reported outcomes, will be included.The primary outcome is the time and rate of appearance of headache induced by COVID-19. The secondary outcome is the length of hospital stay. Two independent reviewers will conduct the study selection, data extraction and assessment. Review Manager Software V.5.3 will be used for the assessment of risk of bias and data synthesis.

Results: The results will provide a high-quality synthesis of current evidence for researchers in this subject area.

Conclusion: The conclusion of our study will provide an evidence to judge whether plum-blossom needle is effective and safe for COVID-19-related headache.

Ethics and dissemination: This protocol will not evaluate individual patient information or affect patient rights and therefore does not require ethical approval. Results from this review will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals and conference reports.

Prospero registration number: CRD42020199508.