Abstract
Introduction perineal edema and pain are common in women who undergo vaginal childbirth, which seriously affects their daily life and overall physical and mental health. Previous studies have established the efficacy of Western medicine in alleviating perineal pain; however, its clinical effectiveness is limited owing to potential side effects on both mothers and infants. The aim of this review was to systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of external application of Swelling and Pain relief in Chinese herbal medicines for the treatment of postpartum perineal edema pain. Methods and analysis Databases including PubMed, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, SpringerLink, WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, Wanfang China database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, Chinese Scientific Journal Database, and China’s Conference Papers Database and China Dissertation database will be searched from inception to May 2024. In addition, other suitable search strategies were used to complete the review. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) assessing external application of Swelling and Pain relief Chinese herbal medicines in the therapy for reducing postpartum perineal edema pain will be included the primary outcome is pain intensity. Secondary outcomes include negative emotions, feeding situation. Reviewers will conduct study selection, data extraction and risk of bias assessment procedures. Methodological quality was assessed using Cochrane risk of bias. PROSPERO registration number CRD42024532618. Strengths and limitations of this study This systematic review and meta-analysis will include many RCTS that have been omitted from Chinese databases, as well as some novel, well-designed, high-quality multicenter RCTS that have been conducted in the last two years. To provide high-quality evidence-based medicine to determine whether the external application of Chinese herbal medicine to reduce swelling and pain is an effective and safe intervention for postpartum women with perineal pain. The selection of studies, data extraction, and assessment of bias will be performed independently by two researchers, and the third researcher’s opinion will be sought when there is a dispute, thus ensuring that all relevant studies will be included without personal bias. We will only search Chinese and English databases, which may result in language bias.The age of the investigator, number of deliveries, different components of the herbs, control interventions, course of treatment, severity of pain, and quality of the study may have contributed to heterogeneity.