Background: Coronary heart disease (CHD) has become the primary cause of heart failure (HF). Wenyang Huoxue method can significantly improve cardiac function in patients with CHD complicated with HF, but it has not been systematically evaluated for efficacy and safety.
Methods: We will search China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, Wanfang database, China Biomedical Literature Database, China Science Journal Database PubMed, Excerpt Medica Database, and Cochrane library. Clinical trial registrations, potential grey literature, related conference abstracts, and reference lists of identified studies will also be retrieved. The electronic database will be searched for literatures published from January 2000 to September 2019. Based on the heterogeneity test, data integration is performed using a fixed effect model or a random effects model. Changes in total effective rate in cardiac function will be assessed as primary outcome. 6-minute walk test, left ventricular ejection fraction, and plasma brain natriuretic peptide will be assessed as secondary outcomes. RevMan 5.3.5 will be used for meta-analysis.
Results: This study will provide a high-quality comprehensive evaluation of the efficacy and safety of Wenyang Huoxue method for treating patients with CHD complicated with HF.
Conclusions: This systematic review will determine whether Wenyang Huoxue method provides evidence for effective intervention in patients with CHD complicated with HF.
Ethics and dissemination: This systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials does not require ethical recognition, and the results of this paper will be published in an open access, internationally influential academic journal.
Trial registration number: CRD42016025957.