Effectiveness and safety of different traditional Chinese medicine therapies for allergic rhinitis A protocol for systematic review and network meta analysis

Introduction: Traditional Chinese medicine has been widely used in the treatment of allergic rhinitis. However, currently randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and meta-analysis only compare 1 or 2 types of traditional Chinese medicine therapies, and the comprehensive ranking of efficacy and safety of multiple traditional Chinese medicine therapies for the treatment of allergic rhinitis has not been completed. Therefore, the purpose of this network meta-analysis is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of different traditional Chinese medicine therapies for the treatment of allergic rhinitis. Methods and analysis: Three English databases of PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and 2 Chinese databases of CNKI and Wanfang were searched from their inceptions to September 1, 2020. At the same time, in order to prevent omissions, we also compared the previous meta-analysis to determine the final included trials. The main evaluation outcome was the total Clinical Score (total nasal symptom score [TNSS]), the secondary evaluation outcome was the Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (RQLQ) and adverse events. The Cochrane Collaboration's Tool was used to evaluate the methodological quality of articles, the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) instrument was used to evaluate the quality of evidence. Network meta-analysis was completed by using Stata Statistical Software (Version 14.0, Stata Corporation, College Station, TX). Results: This study will compare and rank the different traditional Chinese medicine therapies for allergic rhinitis. Conclusion: This study is the first time to use network meta-analysis (NMA) to compare the efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of allergic rhinitis, which will provide ideas and methods for the clinical treatment for allergic rhinitis. INPLASY registration number: No. INPLASY202080119