Efficacy and Safety of Herbal Medicine for Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease-Related Chronic Cough: Protocol for a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objectives: This systematic review will evaluate the therapeutic effectiveness and safety of herbal medicine for patients with GERC.Methods: Nine databases (including PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library) will be searched to identify RCTs evaluating herbal treatments for GERC versus conventional medicine. Risk of bias will be appraised using the Cochrane RoB 2 tool, and the certainty of evidence will be assessed using GRADE. Meta-analyses will be performed using Review Manager 5.4. This protocol is registered in PROSPERO (CRD420261399382).Results: This review will evaluate primary outcomes, including cough symptom scores, visual analog scales, and cough diary data, as well as secondary outcomes such as clinical effectiveness, quality of life, symptom relapse rates, and the incidence of adverse events.Conclusion: This review will provide evidence regarding the clinical efficacy and safety of herbal medicine for GERC, thereby offering practical guidance for clinical decision-making.