Efficacy of Ayurveda Interventions Specifically on Weight Gain in the Management of Protein Energy Malnutrition in Children: A Systematic Review Protocol

Background: In India, Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM)remains a significant and challenging public health issue despite implementing different nutritional policies over the period. It is also accompanying with aggravated risk of all-cause morbidity, as well as fatality Ayurveda mentions about various nutritional disorders such as karshya, balashosha, phakka, yakshma which are having similar symptomatology and treatment approach as that of the PEM. Several clinical studies have been conducted and some are under trial but systematic review is still pending to explore an effective treatment modality to combat PEM in Children.

Aim: A systematic review to evaluate the efficacy of Ayurveda Interventions specifically on weight gain in the Management of Protein Energy Malnutrition in Children.

Materials and Methods: A systematic review which will evaluate published clinical work of Ayurveda treatment modalities specifically for weight gain in the management of PEM in children that will involve “The randomized controlled trials (RCTs), multiple-arms clinical trials, quasi-experimental trials, observational studies (case series and case reports) through databases like PubMed, COCHRANE, AYUSH Research Portal, DHARA; Google Scholar; etc. and Ayurveda compendia to fetch complete available literature.”

Observations and Discussion: The work of selection of the studies, data extraction, and synthesis will be taken up. Established guidelines for study selection, quality assessment, and narrative synthesis will be followed. Risk of bias assessment will be performed. A protocol will be designed that will ensure transparency for the completed review. Results of the study will be elaborately synthesized. The data will be presented in percentage, count and frequency; and if we find the data to be sufficiently homogeneous then meta-analysis will be carried out.

Conclusion: The results obtained from this systematic review will be useful in identifying the evidence-based efficacy of Ayurveda interventions on weight gain in the Management of PEM. It will also provide substratum for future research studies for generating good-quality evidence that can be helpful to design new health policy to combat PEM effectively.