ObjectiveTo systematically review the correlation of diabetes mellitus (DM) with periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) after total joint arthroplasty (TJA). MethodsStudies related to DM with PJI after TJA were collected from PubMed, EMbase and The Cochrane Library from inception to September 2021. Two reviewers independently screened the literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of the included studies. Meta-analysis was then performed using Stata 13.0 software. ResultsA total of 26 studies involving 1 750 118 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that the risk of PJI after TJA in DM patients was significantly higher than that in non-DM patients (OR=1.42, 95%CI 1.32 to 1.52, P<0.000 1). ConclusionCurrent evidence indicates a higher risk of PJI for DM patients than non-DM patients after TJA. Due to the limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high-quality studies are required to verify the above conclusion.