• Wang Li, Kaiqi Zhang, Dongxin Wang, Ruimin Jiao, Sha Li, and Xu Zhai.
• Graduate School, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2022 Dec 16; 101 (50): e31956e31956.

BackgroundAtopic eczema (AE) is a chronic relapsing dermatological disease characterized by pruritus, dryness, erythema, and lichenification. Acupuncture as an alternative treatment can relieve symptoms, reduce the recurrence, and improve the quality of life (QoL) with less adverse reactions in treating AE. This network meta-analysis (NMA) will comprehensively access the efficacy and safety of different acupuncture therapies for patients with AE, and rank the different acupuncture therapies, in order to present evidence-based medicine evidence for clinical application extensively.Method And AnalysisThis study will search 8 electronic databases from the establishment of the database to August 30th, 2022. The screening of literature, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment will be conducted by 2 researchers, respectively. The quality of evidence will be judged by the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation system. This NMA will be analyzed with Stata Version. 14.0 and WinBUGS Version.1.4.3.ResultsThis study will comprehensively access the efficacy and safety of different acupuncture therapies for patients with AE on the severity, itch intensity, emotional symptoms, QoL, and recurrence rate. Moreover, it will further identify which acupuncture therapy is the most effective.ConclusionThe findings of this NMA may help patients and therapists choose the best acupuncture therapy in treating AE and furnish reliable evidence for guidelines.Registration NumberPROSPERO CRD42020203437.Copyright © 2022 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

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