Abstract: AIM: To compare the efficacy and investigate the clinic value between sibutramine and orlistat for obesity. METHODS: The database was retrieved from PubMed, EMBASE, SCI, the Cochrane Library, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, China Journal Full Text Database, Chinese Medical Association Journals, and references of the included studies up to December 2009. Randomized control trials (RCT) of sibutramine versus orlistat for obesity were included. The quality of the included studies was evaluated by Handbook recommend standard. Data were analyzed by RevMan 5.0 from the Cochrane Collaboration. RESULTS: Five RCTs were included. Meta-analysis showed that there were no differences between sibutramine and orlistat for obesity in weight loss, body mass index(BMI) decrease, waist circumference decrease and LDL-C change. Although there were fewer adverse events in the two groups, the form of adverse events were different because of the different mechanism of two drugs. CONCLUSION: Sibutramine and Orlistat have significant effects in the treatment of obesity. Meanwhile, there is no significant difference between two drugs, while the performance of two groups of drug adverse events is different.

Key words: Sibutramine, Orlistat, Randomized controlled trial, Meta analysis