Efficacy and safety of acupuncture therapy for COVID-19: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture therapy for coronavirus disease 2019.

Methods: The following electronic databases will be searched from December 2019 to December 2020: Medline, PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wan-fang database, Chinese Scientific Journal Database, Chinese Biomedical Literature Databases, and other databases. All published randomized controlled trials about this topic will be included. Two independent researchers will operate article retrieval, duplication removing, screening, quality evaluation, and data analyses by Review Manager (V.5.3.5). Meta-analyses, subgroup analysis, and/or descriptive analysis will be performed based on the included data conditions.

Results: High-quality synthesis and/or descriptive analysis of current evidence will be provided from mortality rate, cure rate, the time of negative nucleic acid detection for 2 consecutive times (not on the same day), improvement of chest CT scans, disappearance time of fever and cough, and side effects.

Conclusion: This study will provide the evidence of whether acupuncture is an effective and safe intervention for coronavirus disease 2019 .PROSPERO registration number: CRD42020179298.