title: Non-pharmacological treatments for adult patients with functional constipation: a systematic review protocol.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this review is to assess the effectiveness, efficacy and safety of non-pharmacological therapies for patients with functional constipation.
  
  
  METHODS
  We will electronically search OVID MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane library, CINAHL, AMED and ISI web of knowledge without any language restrictions. We will also try to obtain literatures from other sources, such as a hand search of library journals or conference abstracts. After searching and screening of the studies, we will run a meta-analysis of the included randomised-controlled trials. We will summarise the results as risk ratio for dichotomous data and standardised or weighted mean difference for continuous data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This systematic review will summarise current evidence for using non-pharmacological therapies to treat functional constipation, and will be disseminated through peer-review publications or conference presentations.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  PROSPERO 2014: CRD42014006686.
authors.affiliation: Clinical College, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China Anorectal Department, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: The 3rd Teaching Hospital, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: The 3rd Teaching Hospital, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Clinical College, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China Anorectal Department, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Dequan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: The Third Clinical College of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: The Third Clinical College of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Jianqiao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003248:Constipation / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012107:Research Design; D000078202:Systematic Reviews as Topic
keywords: Complementary Medicine