However, a meta-analysis of individual data from seven short-term (less than 4 weeks) and nine long-term (4 weeks and more), double-blind, randomized therapeutic trials, conducted by Ong KT et al., showed that in long-term trials, ACE inhibitors, calcium antagonists, β-blockers, and diuretics all significantly reduced arterial stiffness beyond BP reduction in essential hypertensive patients, whereas in short-term studies, the decrease in arterial stiffness was less under calcium channel blockers (CCB) treatment than under ACE inhibitors [48]. Here, ACE is linked to essential hypertension.