Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of cilnidipine tablets to treat Chinese patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension, and to examine the ability of cilnidipine to lower blood pressure without eliciting unfavorable side effects. Medical databases and review articles were screened for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that reported the effects of adverse reactions to cilnidipine and amlodipine in treating Chinese patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension. The quality of the included studies was critically evaluated. A total of 547 articles were found, from which 11 articles met the inclusion criteria. The heterogeneity test, the efficacy analysis (Q statistic = 4.62, p = 0.91, I² = 0%) and safety analysis (Q statistic = 3.73, p = 0.93, I² = 0%) showed that cilnidipine was equally effective and safe compared to amlodipine. The funnel-plot displayed a symmetrical figure, indicating there was no publication bias, and all articles included described high quality trials. In conclusion, cilnidipine is a useful agent to treat mild to moderate essential hypertension.

Key words: Cilnidipine, hypertension, review, meta-analysis.