title: Is caffeine intake a risk factor leading to infertility? A protocol of an epidemiological systematic review of controlled clinical studies.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Previous studies showed that high dose of caffeine intake may induce some specific human reproductive system diseases, even lead to infertility.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  In consideration of the high consumption of caffeine according to the latest population-based survey, this review is aimed to systematically review the evidence from all controlled clinical studies of caffeine intake for infertility.
  
  
  METHODS
  Relevant randomized/quasi-randomized controlled trials, non-randomized clinical studies, cohort studies, and case-control studies will be included in this review. Participants will be either those without a history of infertility who are willing to have a baby (for prospective studies) or infertile patients with confirmed diagnosis (for retrospective studies). Caffeine or caffeine-containing beverage will be observed as the exposure factor. The key outcome will be the diagnosis of infertility in participants. All relevant published/unpublished or ongoing studies will be searched from seven databases and four online systems until December 2015. Two authors will screen the literatures and extract the data independently. Methodological quality of the included studies will be assessed by two authors according to either Risk of Bias Assessment or Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. We will use R software to analyze the data. Dose of caffeine will be quantified on a daily basis, and relative risk with their 95 % confidence interval will be measured. If data permit, meta-analysis and dose-response analysis will be conducted. Summary of findings tables will be generated using Guideline Development Tool online.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  PROSPERO CRD42015015714.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Evidence-Based Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Huijuan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Centre for Evidence-Based Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Centre for Complementary Medicine Research, University of Western Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Guoyan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Centre for Evidence-Based Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China. jianping_l@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Jianping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D002110:Caffeine; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D065187:Controlled Before-After Studies; D004032:Diet; D006801:Humans; D007246:Infertility / Q000453:epidemiology*; D065228:Non-Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012307:Risk Factors; D000078202:Systematic Reviews as Topic
chemical_list: D002110:Caffeine
keywords: Caffeine intake; Infertility; Systematic review