Background: There is a worldwide outbreak of COVID-19, as the number of patients increases. External treatment of traditional Chinese medicine includes acupuncture, massage, fire needle, cupping, and other alternative therapies. Currently, there are no relevant articles for systematic review. Methods: We will search the randomized controlled trials related to the external treatment of traditional Chinese medicine (such as, acupuncture, massage, etc) and COVID-19 from inception to June 2020. The following database is our focus area: the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, and Wan-Fang Database. All published randomized controlled trials in English or Chinese related to massage for COVID-19 will be included. Primary outcomes include the influence of external treatment of traditional Chinese medicine on the patients with COVID-19. Secondary outcomes include accompanying symptoms (such as myalgia, expectoration, stuffiness, runny nose, pharyngalgia, anhelation, chest distress, dyspnea, crackles, headache, nausea, vomiting, anorexia, diarrhea) disappear rate, negative COVID-19 results rate on 2 consecutive occasions (not on the same day), average hospitalization time, Clinical curative effect, and improved quality of life. Results: The results will provide a high-quality synthesis of current evidence for researchers in this subject area. Conclusion: The conclusion of our study will provide evidence to judge whether external treatment of traditional Chinese medicine is an effective intervention on the patients with COVID-19. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42020181336

Background. Herpes zoster (HZ) is a common skin disease that has a huge impact on the quality of life of sufferers. Antiviral therapy is a conventional treatment, but it still has limitations. This review evaluates the safety and efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of HZ. Methods. We identified randomized controlled trials from multiple electronic sources (including Embase, PubMed, Cochrane, Web of Knowledge, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and China Biology Medicine Disc (CBM)) and reference lists of relevant articles and extracted data and assessed risk of bias (Cochranes Risk of Bias tool). Pooled data are expressed as standardized mean differences (SMDs), with 95 confidence intervals (CI) (random-effects model). Results. We included 15 trials (1811 participants) comparing acupuncture to medicine. Ten studies involving 1424 patients provided these data for the meta-analysis. The results showed that acupuncture as a control group had a higher clinical cure rate than Western medicine therapy (n=1424, 95 Cl 2.193.14, I²=0). Eleven studies used the visual analog scale (VAS), but only nine provided specific data, which we used as a continuous variable for data extraction. The meta-analysis also showed an SMD of 2.64 (n=646, 95 CI 3.791.48, I²=97) which showed great heterogeneity. Meta-analysis showed a significant reduction in the incidence of PHN in those who received acupuncture compared to pharmacotherapy (OR=0.35, 95 CI 0.042.86, I²=52) which showed moderate heterogeneity. Economic indicators suggest that acupuncture costs less and has fewer adverse reactions. Conclusions. This review compares acupuncture therapy with conventional treatment and finds that the curative effects of acupuncture are exact, with fewer side effects. However, with the risk of bias and imprecision of the studies included, a concrete conclusion is difficult to draw. Thus, well-designed, rigorous studies are warranted in the future.

Objective. This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to assess the efficacy of acupuncture treatment for postprandial distress syndrome (PDS). Methods. Search the Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, PubMed, and Embase databases with acupuncture randomized controlled trials for the treatment of patients with PDS. Strictly according to inclusion and exclusion quality assessment standards, the qualified ones are used to study the optimum extraction and data by two independent reviewers. Stata 15.0 software was used for meta-analysis. Result. We initially identified 63 studies, of which five (1253 participants) were eventually included in our analysis. There were 643 cases in the experimental group and 610 cases in the control group. Acupuncture had a significant effect on the total therapeutic effect (OTE) at week 4 (OR 4.74, 95% CI 02.88-7.83, , ). Significantly improved NDI (Nepean dyspepsia index) scores of PDS patients at week 4 (SMD 0.61, 95% CI 0.48 to 0.74). Significantly improved NDI scores in PDS patients at week 16 (SMD 0.49, 95% CI 0.27 to 0.71). After acupuncture treatment, the SID (dyspepsia symptom index) score of PDS patients decreased significantly at week 4 (SMD-0.52, 95% CI -0.73 to -0.32) and week 16 (SMD-0.59, 95% CI -0.81 to -0.36). Postprandial satiety scores (SMD-0.63, 95% CI -0.76 to -0.50) and early satiety scores (SMD-0.51, 95% CI -0.64 to -0.37) were also significantly lower at week 4 after acupuncture. Conclusion. This study highlighted that the acupuncture could significantly improve the overall therapeutic effect of PDS patients, alleviate the symptoms of postprandial fullness and early satiety, and improve the quality of life of patients. Our results supported that acupuncture was an effective therapeutic strategy for postprandial distress syndrome.

Background Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating Problematic internet use (PIU) have reported many different outcomes, which are themselves often defined and measured in distinct ways. Numerous clinical trials have been conducted on the efficacy and safety of different interventions in the treatment of PIU, resulting in many different outcome measures and different ways of measuring them. In order to facilitate the future research of PIU, it is necessary to produce the core Outcome Set (COS), which can help to translate the results into high-quality evidence. Methods and analysis: This mixed-method project has a three-phase tool: Phase 1, a scoping review of the literature to identify outcomes that have been reported in clinical trials and systematic reviews of interventions for PIU. Phase 2, a systematic review of PIU literature was conducted to identify potential outcome indicators. Phase 3, final outcome indicators were determined through Modified Delphi Method, Consensus Meetings, Stakeholder Perspectives and Stakeholder Consultations. Conclusions We will develop a COS that should be reported in future clinical trials of PIU. Trial registration: Core Outcome Measures in Effectiveness Trials (COMET) Initiative database registration: www.comet-initiative.org/Studies/Details/2109. Registered in August 2022.

BACKGROUND This scoping review was conducted as the first phase of the development of the Problematic Internet Use (PIU) Core Result Set (COS-EPOCH). The purpose of this review is to identify the results collected and reported in randomized controlled trials of PIU. A systematic scoping review was conducted based on published guidelines. Trial registries and Medline were searched, and the retrieved records were screened by two reviewers. Results are assigned to result domains and similar definitions within each domain are merged based on key literature and expert consensus. Estimate the result and domain frequencies and represent them in the result matrix. Seven outcome domains were identified from 78 included studies: observation of Internet addiction, mental/emotional measurement, laboratory examination, TCM indicators, general self-test, follow-up, adverse reactions and other special measures. The most commonly reported result area is Internet addiction Diagnosis Scale (IAT), mental health symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) and Self-rating depression scale (SDS). 201 unique outcomes were identified, indicating a high degree of heterogeneity. The significant heterogeneity of the results supports the need to develop COS-EPOCH. OBJECTIVE The outcome index set of PIU is developed by using relevant methods. METHODS The purpose of this review is to identify the results collected and reported in randomized controlled trials of PIU. A systematic scoping review was conducted based on published guidelines. Trial registries and Medline were searched, and the retrieved records were screened by two reviewers. Results are assigned to result domains and similar definitions within each domain are merged based on key literature and expert consensus. Estimate the result and domain frequencies and represent them in the result matrix. RESULTS Seven outcome domains were identified from 78 included studies: observation of Internet addiction, mental/emotional measurement, laboratory examination, TCM indicators, general self-test, follow-up, adverse reactions and other special measures. The most commonly reported result area is Internet addiction Diagnosis Scale (IAT), mental health symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) and Self-rating depression scale (SDS). 201 unique outcomes were identified, indicating a high degree of heterogeneity. The significant heterogeneity of the results supports the need to develop COS-EPOCH. CONCLUSIONS This review identifies significant heterogeneity in outcomes measured and reported in PIU intervention trials. Seven result domains were identified and a large number of results are currently reported in relatively few studies. As Internet use becomes an integral part of humanity, more and more people are suffering from PIUs, and effective and efficient interventions are needed. The results of this scoped review will support the development of COS EPOCH, with the aim of guiding PIU intervention studies and facilitating the synthesis of knowledge between studies to ensure that investigators obtain a more comprehensive domain of indicators in trials involving patients with PIU. CLINICALTRIAL

Journal of Medical Internet Research - International Scientific Journal for Medical Research, Information and Communication on the Internet #Preprint #PeerReviewMe: Warning: This is a unreviewed preprint. Readers are warned that the document has not been peer-reviewed by expert/patient reviewers or an academic editor, may contain misleading claims, and is likely to undergo changes before final publication, if accepted, or may have been rejected/withdrawn. Readers with interest and expertise are encouraged to sign up as peer-reviewer, if the paper is within an open peer-review period. Please cite this preprint only for review purposes or for grant applications and CVs (if you are the author). This comprehensive review marks the first step in creating the Internet Addiction (IAD) Core Outcome Set (COS-EPOCH). The aim is to identify and synthesize outcome measures reported in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on IAD. Following established guidelines, trial registries and Medline databases were systematically searched, and records were independently screened by two reviewers. Outcomes were categorized into domains through a consensus process involving multiple experts, ensuring they were comprehensive and relevant to IAD research. Seven outcome domains emerged from the analysis of 86 studies: Internet addiction assessment, mental/emotional evaluation, laboratory tests, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) indicators, general self-assessments, follow-up measures, adverse reactions, and other specific evaluations. The most frequently reported outcomes were the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90), and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS). The review identified 222 unique outcomes, highlighting significant heterogeneity, which underscores the necessity for developing COS-EPOCH to standardize outcome measures in PIU research.