ObjectivesTo systematically review the prevalence of senile pruritus (SP) in Chinese population.MethodsPubMed, EMbase, CENTRAL, CINAHL, CBM, CNKI, WanFang Data and VIP databases were electronically searched to collect cross-sectional studies on the prevalence of SP in Chinese population from inception to May 2019. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed risk of bias of included studies, then, meta-analysis was performed by Stata 12.0 software.ResultsA total of 11 studies involving 13 398 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that, the overall prevalence of SP was 31.0% (95%CI 18.0% to 44.0%). Subgroup analysis showed that the prevalence rate of male was 34.9% (95%CI 18.6% to 88.5%). The prevalence rates of SP among 60, 70, 80 and 90 age groups were 20.0% (95%CI 14.2% to 25.7%), 48.4% (95%CI 21.5% to 75.3%), 53% (95%CI 12.4% to 93.5%), and 58.5% (95%CI 22.4% to 94.6%), respectively. The prevalence rates of SP in community, hospital and cadre relaxation club were 33.4% (95%CI 31.3% to 35.6%), 40.4% (95%CI 22% to 58.7%), and 14.4% (95%CI 1.1% to 27.7%), respectively. The prevalence rates of SP in southern China and northern China were 26.7% (95%CI 18.7% to 34.7%) and 36.8% (95%CI 21.8% to 51.7%), respectively.ConclusionsThe overall prevalence rate of SP in the Chinese population is high. The prevalence rates of SP among ages, regions and research sites are different.