Efficacy and safety of pasireotide for Cushing's disease A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Cushing's disease (CD) is associated with increased risk of mortality, myocardial infarction, stroke, peptic ulcers, fractures and infections. The prevalence of CD is nearly 40 per million and higher in women than in men. When surgery has failed, is not feasible, or has been refused, pharmacotherapy can be considered a valuable option. Pasireotide is the first medical therapy officially approved for adult patients with CD. We will conduct a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis to systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of pasireotide for CD. Methods: Five English databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, and OVID) and 3 Chinese databases (China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Science and Technology Journal Database, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database) will be searched from their respective inception of databases to December 2020. Two reviewers will select articles, extract data and assess the risk of bias independently. Any disagreement will be resolved by discussion with the third reviewer. Review Manager 5.3 software will be used for data synthesis. The Cochrane risk of bias assessment tool will be used to evaluate the bias risk. Results: This systematic review and meta-analysis will conduct a comprehensive literature search and provide a systematic synthesis of current published data to explore the efficacy and safety of pasireotide for CD. Conclusions: This systematic review and meta-analysis will provide clinical evidence for the efficacy and safety of pasireotide for CD, and inform our understanding of the value of pasireotide in improving CD clinical signs and symptoms. The conclusions drawn from this study may be beneficial to patients, clinicians, and health-related policy makers. Study registration number: INPLASY2020110070.