ObjectiveTo investigate the overall accuracy of interleukin-12 (IL-12) for diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy. MethodsWe searched in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases, WanFang Data, and VIP Information for qualified studies that reported diagnostic accuracy of IL-12 for tuberculous pleurisy up to February 2014. The methodological quality of each study was evaluated by Quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies. Statistical analyses were performed by Meta-Disc 1.4 software and the pooled sensitivity, specificity and other diagnostic indexes. Meta-analysis of the reported accuracy of each study and summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve were also performed. ResultsEight studies met the inclusion criteria for the analysis. The summary estimates for IL-12 in the diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy were:sensitivity 0.80 [95% CI (0.76, 0.84)], specificity 0.76 [95% CI (0.71, 0.81)], positive likelihood ratio 3.23 [95% CI (2.26, 4.60)], negative likelihood ratio 0.30 [95% CI (0.20, 0.45)], diagnostic odds ratio 13.57 [95% CI (6.66, 27.64)], and the area under the curve of SROC was 0.86. ConclusionIL-12 plays a valuable role in the diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy, and IL-12 may be a useful diagnostic marker for tuberculous pleurisy.