Effectiveness and safety of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of senile hypotension: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Senile hypotension refers to those whose blood pressure (BP) is lower than 90/60 mm Hg. The consequences can not only cause insufficient cardio-cerebral perfusion, but severe cases may also cause angina pectoris and stroke. At present, Western medicine has no ideal therapeutic drugs for senile hypotension. The aim of this systematic review is to assess the effectiveness and safety of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) therapy for senile hypotension.

Methods: Two reviewers will electronically search the following databases: the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials; PubMed; EMBASE; China National Knowledge Infrastructure; Chinese Biomedical Literature Database; Chinese Scientific Journal Database (VIP database); and Wan-Fang Database from the inception, without restriction of publication status and languages. Additional searching including researches in progress, the reference lists and the citation lists of identified publications. Study selection, data extraction, and assessment of study quality will be performed independently by 2 reviewers. If it is appropriate for a meta-analysis, RevMan 5.4 statistical software will be used; otherwise, a descriptive analysis will be conducted. Data will be synthesized by either the fixed-effects or random-effects model according to a heterogeneity test. The results will be presented as risk ratio (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for dichotomous data and weight mean difference (WMD) or standard mean difference 95% CIs for continuous data.

Results: This study will provide a comprehensive review of the available evidence for the treatment of TCM with senile hypotension.

Conclusions: The conclusions of our study will provide an evidence to judge whether TCM is an effective and safe intervention for patients with senile hypotension.

Ethics and dissemination: This systematic review will be disseminated in a peer-reviewed journal or presented at relevant conferences. It is not necessary for a formal ethical approval because the data are not individualized.

Trial registration number: INPLASY2020110091.