Effectiveness of electroacupuncture (EA) for the treatment of urinary incontinence (UI) in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI): A protocol of systematic review of randomized controlled trials.

BACKGROUND

The objective of this study is to examine the effectiveness and safety of electroacupuncture (EA) in the treatment of urinary incontinence (UI) in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI).

METHODS

All potential studies will be retrieved from the electronic databases of MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, Web of Science, CBM, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure from origin of each database up to January 31, 2020. Additionally, we will check other resources, such as Google scholar, dissertations, conference proceedings, and reference lists of included studies. No language and publication date limitations will be considered in the literature resources search. All randomized controlled trials using EA for the treatment of UI in patients with SCI will be included. Two independent investigators will perform study selection, data extraction and study quality assessment. If any conflicts occur, we will invite a third investigator to solve them. Cochrane risk of bias will be used for study quality assessment, and RevMan 5.3 software will be employed for statistical analysis.

RESULTS

This study will summarize the most recent evidence to assess the effectiveness and safety of EA for the treatment of UI in patients with SCI.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study will provide helpful evidence to determine whether EA is effective and safety for the treatment of UI in patients with SCI or not.

PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: PROSPERO CRD42020165562.