Efficacy and safety of Boswellia containing formulations for the treatment of osteoarthritis: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Abstract

AbstractOsteoarthritis (OA) is a common chronic joint disease with limited pharmacological management options. Boswellia extracts (BE) or formulations containing BE are generally considered as safe and offers a modest efficacy for the treatment of OA. Although previous systematic reviews have assessed the efficacy of BE in OA, these reviews had excluded trials assessing various formulations containing BE and excluded various combinations of BE. Hence, this study aims to systematically review the evidence from RCTs assessing the efficacy and safety of both BE and formulations containing BE for the treatment of OA. Biomedical databases such as PubMed, Embase, and Google Scholar will be searched to identify the RCTs of BE or formulations containing BE in patients with OA (hand, knee, hip, or any other OA). Cochrane risk of bias tool will be used to assess the quality of included studies. Review Manager 5 (Rev Man) and STATA Version 16 will be used to conduct the statistical analysis.