ObjectiveTo systematically review the effectiveness and safety of Wuling capsule for patients with depression after stroke. MethodsThe randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about Wuling capsule for treating the patients with post-stroke depression was searched in PubMed, The Cochrane Library (Issue 4, 2013), EMbase, CBM, CNKI, WanFang Data and VIP from the dates of their establishment to November 2013. Literature screening according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, data extraction and methodological quality assessment of the included studies were completed by two reviewers independently. Meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.2 software. ResultsA total of eighteen RCTs involving 1 683 patients were finally enrolled. The results of meta-analysis indicated that:a) the Wuling capsule group was more effective in decreasing depression scores than the control group at 4, 8, 12 weeks (4 weeks:SMD=-0.87, 95%CI-1.25 to-0.5, P < 0.000 1; 8 weeks:SMD=-1.22, 95%CI-1.86 to-0.59, P=0.000 2; 12 weeks:SMD=-0.62, 95%CI-1.09 to-0.15, P=0.01). b) The effectiveness rate (92.7%) of the Wuling capsule group was significantly higher than that of the control group (77.2%) at the end of follow-up, with a significant difference (RR=1.20, 95%CI 1.14 to 1.27, P < 0.000 01). c) The two groups were alike in the incidence of palpitation. ConclusionCurrent evidence suggests that, Wuling capsule improves the symptoms of stroke-stroke depression with less adverse reaction. However, due to the limited quantity and quality of the included studies, more multicenter high quality RCTs with large sample size are needed to verify the above conclusion.