ObjectivesTo provide reference for decision-making on prevention and treatment of urinary incontinence by assessing the prevalence of urinary incontinence in Chinese adult women. MethodsWe searched CNKI, VIP, WanFang Data, CBM, PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library to collect cross-sectional studies on urinary incontinence in adult women in mainland China from inception to June 2018. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and evaluated the risk of bias of the included studies. Meta-analysis was performed using Stata 12.0 software. ResultsA total of 20 studies were involved, including 90 126 patients. Meta-analysis showed that the prevalence of urinary incontinence in adult women was 31.1% (95%CI: 28.3% to 34.0%). The subgroup analysis showed that stress urinary incontinence was the main subtype, of which was mainly with mild incontinence, with an average prevalence rate of 27.5% (95%CI: 22.6% to 32.4%) in urban areas and 32.5% (95%CI: 23.3% to 41.7%) in rural areas; 30.9% (95%CI: 26.8% to 35.1%) in the south and 31.4% (95%CI: 26.0% to 36.7%) in the north. The prevalence rate was rising from 2005 to 2008, and it remained at a high level in the following years, and the prevalence increased with age. ConclusionsThe prevalence of urinary incontinence in adult women in China has been at a high level since 2005. There has been no significant improvement in the past 10 years. Therefore, we should attach great importance to it and take appropriate interventions to prevent the occurrence of urinary incontinence.