Background: With the increase in the incidence of premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) over the years, the ovarian function has become one of the integral aspects of research in reproductive medicine today. POI seriously affects the physical and mental health of women, especially reproductive health. Studies show both complementary and alternative therapies to be effective in treating POIs. However, consistency in conclusions is still far-fetched. In light of this, we will carry out a study to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of complementary and alternative therapies for POIs. We therefore develop a study protocol for a proposed network meta-analysis (NMA) and systematic review on POI.
Methods: The following electronic bibliographic database will be searched: VIP database, Wanfang database, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), The Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE and Web of Science from inception till 31 December 2019. A search at the World Health Organization (WHO) International Clinical Trials Registry Platform will also be done. Subsequently, the searched data will undergo independent screening, retrieving, and risk of bias assessment by 2 reviewers. Analysis will be performed on included studies using the NMA technique. Next, the primary outcomes will be compared using ADDIS 1.16.5 and Stata 15.0.
Results: The safety and effectiveness of alternative and complementary therapies used in the treatment of POI will be compared and evaluated.
Conclusion: This work will provide high-quality evidence for clinicians in the field to build on for best practices in effective interventions (complementary and alternative therapies) for POI.
Ethics and dissemination: This NMA is a secondary research which based on some previously published data. Therefore, the ethical approval was not necessary.
Prospero registration number: CRD42020163873.