Sex Differences in the Anti-Hypertensive Effect of Calcium-Channel Blockers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one cause of death worldwide, with hypertension as the leading risk factor for both sexes. As sex may affect responsiveness to antihypertensive compounds, guidelines for CVD prevention might necessitate divergence between females and males. To this end, we studied the effectiveness of calcium channel blockers (CCB) on blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR) and cardiac function between sexes. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis on studies on CCB from inception to May 2020. Studies had to present both baseline and follow-up measurements of the outcome variables of interest and present data in a sex-stratified manner. Mean differences were calculated using a random-effects model. In total, 38 studies with 8202 participants were used for this review. In females as compared to males, systolic BP decreased by −27.6 mmHg (95%CI −36.4; −18.8) (−17.1% (95%CI −22.5;−11.6)) versus −14.4 mmHg (95%CI −19.0; −9.9) (−9.8% (95%CI −12.9;−6.7)) (between-sex difference p < 0.01), diastolic BP decreased by −14.1 (95%CI −18.8; −9.3) (−15.2%(95%CI −20.3;−10.1)) versus −10.6 mmHg (95%CI −14.0; −7.3) (−11.2% (95%CI −14.8;−7.7)) (between-sex difference p = 0.24). HR decreased by −1.8 bpm (95%CI −2.5; −1.2) (−2.5% (95%CI −3.4; −1.6)) in females compared to no change in males (0.3 bpm (95% CI −1.2; 1.8)) (between-sex difference p = 0.01). In conclusion, CCB lowers BP in both sexes, but the observed effect is larger in females as compared to males.