ObjectivesTo evaluate the effects of short message service (SMS) intervention for improving antiretroviral treatment adherence in HIV patients by meta-analysis.MethodsDatabases including PubMed, EMbase, CINAHL, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, The Cochrane Library, CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP and CBM were searched electronically from January 2000 to December 2018 to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the efficacy of SMS intervention on HIV patients. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias of included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software.ResultsA total of 10 RCTs with 2 411 patients were included. The meta-analysis showed that SMS intervention could improve significantly treatment adherence of HIV patients (RR=1.11, 95%CI 1.03 to 1.20, P<0.01). The subgroup analysis showed that weekly texting had an effect on treatment adherence (RR=1.15, 95%CI 1.00 to 1.33, P<0.05); personal sending (RR=1.17, 95%CI 0.99 to 1.38, P=0.06) and daily sending (RR=1.02, 95%CI 0.83 to 1.26, P=0.84) of SMS had no statistical significance on treatment adherence; the intervention duration of 6 months (RR=1.11, 95%CI 1.00 to 1.23, P=0.05) could improve the treatment adherence, while the intervention duration of 12 months (RR=1.07, 95%CI 0.98 to 1.17, P=0.13) had no statistical difference on treatment adherence; there was no statistical difference in CD4+ cell count before and after treatment (WMD=4.18, 95%CI −39.33 to 47.69, P=0.85).ConclusionsBy comparing SMS intervention with routine nursing, sending SMS weekly for 6 months to remind HIV patients to take medicine can improve treatment adherence. Due to the limitation of quantity and quality of the included studies, the above conclusions are required to be assessed by more high-quality studies.