ObjectiveTo assess the prognostic significance of the Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) score in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and its association with clinicopathological characteristics. MethodsThe relevant studies investigating the association between CONUT score and prognosis of NSCLC patients were systematically searched in the PubMed, Web of Science, EMbase, Cochrane Library, CNKI, Wanfang Database and other databases from their inception to July 2023. Two independent researchers screened the references according to predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data and conducted quality assessment. The quality of included references was evaluated using New Castle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). The meta-analysis was performed using Stata 17.0 software, and a combined hazard ratio (HR) or odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated to assess the association of CONUT score with prognosis and clinicopathological characteristics in NSCLC patients. ResultsA total of 17 cohort studies, comprising 5182 NSCLC patients with stage Ⅰ-Ⅳ, were included in this analysis. All studies had a NOS≥6 points. The meta-analysis showed that there was a significant correlation between CONUT score and overall survival (OS) as well as disease-free survival (DFS) among NSCLC patients: the higher the score, the shorter the OS [HR=1.87, 95%CI (1.58, 2.21), P<0.001] and DFS [HR=1.91, 95%CI (1.63, 2.24), P<0.001]. These differences were statistically significant. Furthermore, CONUT score was significantly associated with age, smoking status, tumor stage, and N stage (P<0.05). ConclusionA higher CONUT score is associated with a poorer OS and DFS in patients with NSCLC, and CONUT score can be used as a potential predictor of NSCLC prognosis.