Oral Chinese herbal formulas as adjunctive therapy for adults with sepsis: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

A systematic review with meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials testing orally or enterally administered Chinese herbal formulas as an adjunct to conventional therapy in adults with sepsis. The review covers six bibliographic databases including CNKI and three trial registers, and is the first synthesis of the oral route, which existing reviews of injectable Chinese herbal preparations have not addressed. The primary outcome is all-cause mortality at 28 or 30 days. The protocol, full search strategies and the screening and extraction materials are deposited with this registration.