Effects of auricular acupressure therapy for preventing constipation in leukemia patients undergoing chemotherapy: Protocol for a systematic review

Introduction: Auricular acupressure therapy is widely used in East Asia and Europe to prevent constipation in leukemia patients undergoing chemotherapy. The aim of this systematic review will be to evaluate the available evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of auricular acupressure therapy for preventing constipation in leukemia patients undergoing chemotherapy. Methods: The following databases will be searched from their inception until May 2017: MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, AMED, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and four Chinese databases [Chinese BioMedical Database (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wan-Fang Data and Chinese WeiPu Database]. Only the RCTs related to the effects of auricular acupressure therapy on preventing constipation in leukemia patients undergoing chemotherapy will be included in this systematic review. A quantitative synthesis of RCTs will be conducted using RevMan 5.3 software. Study selection, data extraction, and validation will be performed independently by two reviewers. Cochrane criteria for risk-of-bias will be used to assess the methodological quality of the trials. Ethics and dissemination: This systematic review will not use data from individual patients and no privacy issues will be violated. The results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications.