ObjectiveTo systematically review the models for predicting coronary artery disease (CAD) and demonstrate their predictive efficacy. MethodsPubMed, EMbase and China National Knowledge Internet were searched comprehensively by computer. We included studies which were designed to develop and validate predictive models of CAD. The studies published from inception to September 30, 2020 were searched. Two reviewers independently evaluated the studies according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria and extracted the baseline characteristics and metrics of model performance.ResultsA total of 30 studies were identified, and 19 diagnostic predictive models were for CAD. Seventeen models had external validation group with area under curve (AUC)>0.7. The AUC for the external validation of the traditional models, including Diamond-Forrester model, updated Diamond-Forrester model, Duke Clinical Score, CAD consortium clinical score, ranged from 0.49 to 0.87.ConclusionMost models have modest discriminative ability. The predictive efficacy of traditional models varies greatly among different populations.