Abstract:Objective To systematically evaluate the sedative effect and anesthesia safety of remazolam in elderly patients underwent painless gastrointestinal endoscopy.Methods According to the principle of Meta-analysis, we comprehensively searched PubMed database, The Cochrane Library, Embase database, China Biology Medicine database (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Wanfang database for randomized controlled trials (RCT) of remimazolam for painless gastrointestinal endoscopy in the elderly up to May 2022. The required data were screened and extracted, and the quality of the included studies was evaluated using the Cochrane Collaboration evaluation tool. Meta-analysis of outcome indicators was performed using RevMan 5.4.1 software.Results Twelve clinical trials (1 296 patients) were included in the analysis, including 647 patients in the remimazolam group (group R) and 649 patients in the propofol group (group P). There was no significant difference in heart rate (HR) (WMD = 0.40, 95%CI: -0.49~1.28, P = 0.380) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) (WMD = 5.05, 95%CI: -3.83 ~ 13.93, P = 0.260) between the two groups. During the anesthesia, the incidence rate of hypotension (RR^ = 0.24, 95%CI: 0.15 ~ 0.39, P = 0.000), respiratory depression (RR^ = 0.28,95%CI:0.18 ~ 0.44,P = 0.000), nausea and vomiting (RR^ = 0.70, 95%CI: 0.50 ~ 0.99, P = 0.050), injection pain (RR^ = 0.03,95%CI:0.01 ~ 0.08,P = 0.000) in the remimazolam group were lower than those in the propofol group. The anesthesia onset time after anesthesia induction in the remifentanil group was longer than that in the propofol group (WMD = 0.23, 95%CI: 0.11 ~ 0.34, P = 0.000), but the recovery time was significantly shorter than that in the propofol group (WMD = -1.06, 95%CI: -1.25 ~ 0.87, P = 0.000).Conclusion Remimazolam is a safe and reliable anesthesia regimen for the induction of painless gastrointestinal endoscopy in the elderly, with stable circulation and minimal adverse reactions.