Efficacy and safety of different doses of azilsartan medoxomil in patients with hypertension: A protocol of a network meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is one of the most common chronic diseases and an increasingly public-health challenge worldwide. Previous meta-analyses evaluated the effects of azilsartan medoxomil compared to placebo or other antihypertensive drugs in patients with hypertension. However, it is still unclear which dose of azilsartan is optimal. This study will perform a network meta-analysis to assess the efficacy and safety of different doses of azilsartan medoxomil in patients with hypertension. METHODS: PubMed, EMBASE.com, the Cochrane library, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched from inception to May 2019. Randomized controlled trials reporting efficacy and safety of different doses of azilsartan medoxomil on hypertension will be included if they compared 1 dose of azilsartan medoxomil with another dose of azilsartan medoxomil or with a placebo. Risk of bias of the included trials will be evaluated according to the Cochrane Handbook 5.1.0. NMA will be performed in a Bayesian hierarchical framework using WinBUGS 14. RESULTS: The results will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for publication. CONCLUSION: This study will summarize all the available data to provide reliable evidence of the value of different doses of azilsartan medoxomil for the treatment of hypertension. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42019136882.