• Weixun Qin, Zhijie Wang, Yue Zhong, Qing Yuan, Xin Jiang, Jing Gao, Junyan Wu, and Yu Zhang.
• Clinical Medical College of Acupuncture and Rehabilitation, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2020 Feb 1; 99 (9): e19115.

BackgroundDysphagia is one of the major post-stroke complications that can severely damage a patient's quality of life. An increasing number of studies have demonstrated that many kinds of nonpharmacological treatments can be used for post-stroke dysphagia. However, there is not enough evidence evaluating the effectiveness and safety of these interventions. This study will conduct a systematic review, and Bayesian network meta-analysis, of nonpharmacological treatments in order to provide evidence for a future study investigating more options for post-stroke dysphagia.MethodsRandomized controlled trials (RCTs) of adult patients aged >18 years old who meet the criteria for a diagnosis of post-stroke dysphagia will be included, regardless of gender, nationality, or education level. Four Chinese databases (CNKI, SinoMed, Wanfang Database, and the Chinese Scientific Journal Database) and four English databases (Web of Science, MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Library) will be searched. Two independent reviewers will evaluate the title summary for each RCT. Disagreements will be discussed with a third commentator. Standard pairwise meta-analysis, including heterogeneity analysis, subgroup analysis, and sensitivity analysis, will be performed using the RevMan 5.3 software, and the risk of bias assessment will be conducted based on the methodological quality of the included trials recommended by the Cochrane Handbook 5.1. The Bayesian network meta-analysis will be performed using R-3.3.2 software. The quality evaluation of this study will be completed using the World Health Organization's Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation.ResultsThis study will summarize all the selected trials aimed at estimating the effectiveness, as well as safety, of applying nonpharmacological treatments to post-stroke dysphagia.ConclusionThis systematic review will provide evidence to assess the validity and safety of applying different types of nonpharmacological treatments for post-stroke dysphagia, which may provide clinicians with more choices in the treatment of this disease.Prospero Registration NumberCRD42019119368.

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