Protocol: The efficacy of the Epley maneuver for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) in primary care setting: a systematic review and meta-analysis v1

Background: Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is a common disease that is characterized as vertigo associated with a rapid change of the head position. The Dix-Hallpike (D-H) maneuver is considered the gold standard test for the diagnosis of posterior canal BPPV. There is high-quality and compelling evidence that patients diagnosed with posterior canal BPPV should be offered expeditious treatment with Epley maneuver (EM) in Cochrane review 2014. Several randomized controlled trials on the efficacy of EM on BPPV have been published since 2014, but the integrated results of these trials are not yet clear. Furthermore, the efficacy of EM in primary care settings (family doctor or general physician) was not much researched. Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized sham-controlled trials of the EM for treatment of posterior canal BPPV. The objective of this systematic review is to clarify the efficacy of the EM for BPPV in primary care settings and subspecialty settings. The outcome of interest is a resolution of vertigo. We will include randomized controlled trials that assess the efficacy of EM. We used a systematic review protocol template(dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.biqrkdv6). We followed the Preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis protocols (PRISMA-P) 2015 for preparing this protocol Ethical consideration and dissemination: We will only use openly available data. Ethical approval is not necessary. We will publish this systematic review in peer-reviewed journals.