Efficacy and safety of massage in the treatment of poststroke depression A systematic review and meta-analysis of protocols

Background: Poststroke depression (PSD) is a severe problem; it will significantly increase the mortality of patients after stroke, and affect the quality of life of patients after discharge. For stroke patients without noticeable adverse reactions, massage can effectively improve the patient's mood, thereby treating poststroke depression. But so far, there is still no systematic research to provide reliable evidence that massage can effectively treat poststroke depression. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to comprehensively summarize and evaluate the effectiveness and safety of massage therapy for poststroke depression. Methods: We conduct a detailed search regardless of publication grade and language status. The search databases include the Web of Science, the Cochrane Library search, EMBASE, PubMed, CNKI, Chinese biomedical literature database, Chongqing VIP, and Wanfang. All randomized controlled trials and cohort studies on massage therapy for poststroke depression are published, as of November 15, 2020. The team consists of 2 experienced researchers who will select the retrieved documents and extract data. Later they used RevMan V.5.3 software for data analysis and data synthesis. Results: The effectiveness and safety of massage therapy intended for poststroke depression will be subject to a systematic evaluation under this program. Conclusion: It will be substantiated in this review whether massage therapy is a reliable intervention for poststroke depression by examining the evidence collected. INPLASY registration number: INPLASY2020110085.