ObjectiveTo systematically review the effectiveness and safety of intensive blood pressure lowering in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). MethodsRandomised controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-RCTs about ICH patients receiving intensive blood pressure lowering were searched from PubMed, EMbase, SCIE, The Cochrane Library (Issue 2, 2013), CBM, CNKI, VIP and WanFang Data until March, 2014. Literature was screened according to the exclusion and inclusion criteria by two reviewers independently and meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.2 software after data extraction and quality assessment. ResultsA total of 24 studies were included involving 6 299 patients, of which 10 were RCTs and 14 were quasi-RCTs. The results of meta-analysis showed that intensive blood pressure lowering was superior to guideline-recommended intervention in reducing 24-h hematoma expansion rates (OR=0.36, 95%CI 0.28 to 0.46, P < 0.05), 24-h hematoma expansion volume (MD=-3.71, 95%CI-4.15 to-3.28, P < 0.05) and perihematomal edema volume (MD=-1.09, 95%CI-1.92 to-0.22, P < 0.05). Meanwhile, intensive blood pressure lowering improved 21-d NIHSS score (MD=-3.44, 95%CI-5.02 to-1.87, P < 0.05). But there was no significant difference in mortality and adverse reaction between the two groups. ConclusionCurrent evidence shows that intensive blood pressure lowering could reduce hematoma expansion volume and perihematomal edema volume, which is beneficial to recovery of neurological function, but ICH patients' long-term prognosis needs to be further studied. Due to the limited quantity and quality of the included studies, high quality studies are needed to verify the above conclusion.