Efficacy of acupuncture and moxibustion in adjuvant treatment of patients with novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): A protocol for systematic review and meta analysis

BACKGROUND: Novel coronavirus has infected 4.33 million people in more than 200 countries in the current global outbreak of COVID-19. However, there is still no effective drug to treat the disease, and acupuncture and moxibustion is utilized as adjuvant therapy for the treatment of COVID-19 in China. METHODS: Nine electronic databases: PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane library, Web of Science (WOS), Google Scholar, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), Chinese Scientific and Journal Database (VIP), Wan Fang database (Wanfang) and 2 clinical trials register platforms: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR), ClinicalTrials.gov (www.ClinicalTrials.gov/) will be searched for RCTs of A&M for COVID-19. The screening process will be developed by 2 independent reviewers, and meta-analysis will be performed with RevMan (V5.3.5) software. RESULTS: The study results will be contributed to a scientific journal after peer-reviewed for publication. CONCLUSION: The study will provide up-to-date evidence of the effectiveness and safety of A&M for patients with COVID-19. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42020185776.