Abstract: Objective　To evaluate the diagnostic value of serum cystatin C (Cys C) and creatinine (Cr) in glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of chronic kidney disease patients. Methods　MEDLINE, EMbase, the Cochrane Library and other databases (1966 to 2010 September) were searched for collecting studies which evaluated the diagnostic value of serum Cys C and Cr in evaluating GFR in patients with chronic kidney disease. The heterogeneity was tested by the Cochrane Collaboration′s software RevMan 4.2.7. The summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve and Meta-analysis were performed by Metadisc.  Results　A total of 231 relevant articles were searched, and 14 articles were included in the study. The study subjects were involved 2 169 patients. Meta-analysis showed that the cut-off value of GFR was 80-90mL/min, the Cys C heterogeneity was high ［P=0.098, I²=34.7%, summary sensitivity (SEN)=0.873, summary specificity (SPE)=0.791］, and Cr had no heterogeneity (P=0.56，I²=0.0%，SEN=0.740, SPE=0.867）. In 5 articles with various stages of GFR, Meta-analysis of GFR (60-90mL/min) group showed that Cys C and Cr had no heterogeneity {Cys C：P=0.708，I²=0.0%，odds ratio (OR)=7.04 ［95% confidence interval (CI): 4.54-10.92］, SEN=0.813，SPE=0.609，the area under the SROC curve (SAUC)=0.822 6；Cr：P=0.945，I²=0.0%，OR=9.4(95%CI:5.75-15.3), SEN=0.605，SPE=0.819，SAUC=0.826 3}. Conclusions　There are significant correlations between Cys C, Cr and GFR. As for early chronic kidney disease, CysC has more sensitivity but less specificity than Cr for evaluation of GFR. Further high quality researches on various stages of GFR in chronic kidney disease patients are still required.

Key words: Cystatin C, Creatinine, Glomerular filtration rate, Meta-analysis