ObjectiveTo systematically review the association between PVT1 expression and digestive system tumors (DST). MethodsPubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library, CBM, and CNKI databases were electronically searched to collect case-control studies on the correlation between PVT1 expression and DST from inception to June 2021. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Meta-analysis was then performed by using Stata 16.0 software. ResultsA total of 34 case-control studies involving 3 882 DST patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that the high expression of PVT1 was significantly associated with tumor size (>5 cm), differentiation degree (poor), T stage (T3-T4), lymph node metastasis (N+), distant metastasis (M+), and clinical stages (Ⅲ-Ⅳ) of DST; however, it was not associated with gender, age and venous invasion. In addition, the high expression of PVT1 in DST tissues was significantly correlated with the low rates of 1, 3 and 5-year overall survival and poor prognosis (HR=1.96, 95%CI 1.70 to 2.26, P<0.000 1). Subgroup analysis showed that the high expression of PVT1 was significantly associated with poor prognosis of gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer and liver cancer.ConclusionsCurrent evidence shows that the high expression of PVT1 is correlated with the clinic pathological features (tumor size >5 cm, poor differentiation, T3-T4 stage, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, and clinical stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ) and indicates poor prognosis in most patients with DST (gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, liver cancer).