ObjectiveTo systematically assess the effectiveness and safety of indapamide versus calcium channel blockers (CCBs) for the treatment of hypertension. MethodsDatabases including The Cochrane Library (Issue 3, 2011), PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, CBM, CNKI, VIP and WanFang Data were electronically searched from inception to Nov. 2011, for the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on indapamide versus CCBs for hypertension. Two reviewers independently screened literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data, and assessed the methodological quality of included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.1 software. ResultsIn total, 42 RCTs were included. The results of meta-analysis indicated that, the ΔDBP of indapamide was lower than that of felodipine; and the rest were similar between the two groups in the excellent rate, total effective rate, ΔSBP and ΔDBP, without significant difference (excellent rate:RR=1.01, 95%CI 0.93 to 1.09, P=0.90; total effective rate:RR=1.01, 95%CI 0.96 to 1.06, P=0.69; ΔSBP:MD=-1.21, 95%CI-3.00 to 0.59, P=0.19; ΔDBP:MD=-0.87, 95%CI-1.89 to 0.15, P=0.09). However, the incidence of indapamide was lower than those of nifedipine, nimodipine and nitrendipine, with significant differences. ConclusionBased on current clinical evidence, for hypertension, the effectiveness of indapamide is similar to CCBs, but safer than CCBs.