ABSTRACT. The A-20C polymorphism in the angiotensinogen (AGT) gene has been associated with increased risk of essential hyper tension in several studies; however, these studies gave inconsistent results. In this study, we performed a meta-analysis to assess the association between AGT A-20C polymorphism and essential hyper tension. Published literature was retrieved from PubMed. Pooled odd's ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated using fixed-or random-effect models. A total of 10 case-control studies containing 3653 cases and 3457 controls were enrolled to this meta-analysis. In a combined analysis, the results showed a significant association between the AGT A-20C polymorphism and risk of essential hyper tension (AA vs CC: OR = 0.62, 95%CI = 0.46-0.84; recessive model: OR = 0.66, 95%CI = 0.49-0.88). In the subgroup analysis