ObjectiveTo systematically review the efficacy and safety of extended or continuous intravenous infusion (EI/CI) versus short-term intravenous infusion (STI) of imipenem/meropenem in adult patients with severe lung infection. MethodsWe electronically searched databases including PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library (Issue 6, 2015) and CBM from inception to June, 2015, to collect random controlled trials (RCTs) about EI/CI versus STI of imipenem/meropenem for severe infection. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.2 software. ResultsA total of 6 RCTs involving 442 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that, compared with the STI group, the EI/CI could significantly improve the microbiological success rate (RR=1.16, 95%CI 1.02 to 1.32, P=0.02) without increasing adverse drug reaction (RR=0.99, 95%CI 0.65 to 1.52, P=0.97). There were no significant differences in clinical effective rate (RR=1.12, 95%CI 0.97 to 1.28, P=0.13), survival rate (RR=1.03, 95%CI 0.92 to 1.16, P=0.62) and hospital stays (MD=-0.43, 95%CI-1.29 to 0.42, P=0.32) between the two groups. Conclusions There is no significant difference in clinical effect between EI/CI and STI for severe lung infection. While, the infections caused by gram-negative bacteria with high MIC could benefit more from EI/CI. Due to the limited quantity and quality of the included studies, the above conclusion still need to be further verified by more high quality studies.