OBJECTIVE: To investigate the therapeutic effects of commonly used selective α-adrenergic receptor antagonists (α-ARA) on benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). METHODS: PubMed, Embase and CNKI databases were searched for the literature about selective α-ARAs for the treatment of BPH and the information was extracted on the common adverse reactions in the course of treatment. Multivariate meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the therapeutic effects of different α-ARAs. RESULTS: The total rates of adverse effects of silodosin and tamsulosin were the highest, 51.9% and 34.0% respectively, with the highest incidences of headache (38.3%), weakness (23.6%) and dizziness (17.5%). Besides, tamsulosin ranked the first in inducing sexual dysfunction of the male patients with BPH (70.4%). CONCLUSIONS: Doxazosin is preferable as the first-choice treatment of BPH for its therapeutic effect and improvement of the patient's quality of life. Silodosin and tamsulosin, however, can be selectively used according to the patient's specific tolerance to different adverse effects.