Objective To systematically review the efficacy and safety of abiraterone acetate in the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer. Methods CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP, Web of Science, PubMed, EMbase and The Cochrane Library databases were electronically searched to collect randomized controlled trials on abiraterone in the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer from inception to December 31st, 2020. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and evaluated the risk of bias of the included studies. Meta-analysis was then performed using RevMan 5.3 software. Results A total of 25 randomized controlled trials involving 8 654 patients were included. Meta-analysis results showed that the median radiographic progression-free survival (MD=5.81, 95%CI 3.58 to 8.03, P<0.01), PSA response rate (RR=2.77, 95%CI 1.65 to 4.65, P<0.01), median overall survival (MD=6.44, 95%CI 4.54 to 8.33, P<0.01), median time to PSA progression (MD=2.57, 95%CI 1.30 to 3.84, P<0.01), median PSA progressionfree survival (MD=6.74, 95%CI 5.08 to 8.39, P<0.01), testosterone level control (MD=−0.41, 95%CI −0.68 to −0.14, P<0.01), PSA level control (MD=−8.06, 95%CI −13.82 to −2.31, P<0.01), effective rate (RR=2.94, 95%CI 1.89 to 4.58, P<0.01), complete remission (RR=1.66, 95%CI 1.02 to 2.72, P<0.05), granulocytopenia (RR=0.18, 95%CI 0.07 to 0.45, P<0.01) and KPS score (MD=4.29, 95%CI 4.06 to 4.52, P<0.01) were significantly superior to non-abiraterone treatment group. The incidence of hypertension (RR=2.04, 95%CI 1.62 to 2.57, P<0.01), heart disease (RR=2.27, 95%CI 1.80 to 2.86, P<0.01) and hypokalemia (RR=2.89, 95%CI 1.59 to 5.26, P<0.01) adverse reactions were significantly higher than those in non-abiraterone group. The number of drug withdrawals caused by adverse reactions (RR=1.26, 95%CI 0.98 to 1.61, P>0.05), fluid retention or edema (RR=1.23, 95%CI 0.73 to 2.09, P>0.05), liver function damage (RR=1.66, 95%CI 0.93 to 2.97, P>0.05), fatigue and weakness (RR=0.97, 95%CI 0.73 to 1.29, P>0.05), anemia (RR=0.86, 95%CI 0.64 to 1.16, P>0.05) and elevated blood glucose (RR=1.51, 95%CI 0.96 to 2.36, P>0.05), were not significantly different between the two groups. Conclusion Abiraterone acetate can effectively delay the progression of castration-resistant prostate cancer, prolong the survival period, and improve the quality of life. Due to the limited quantity and quality of the included studies, more high-quality studies are needed to verify the above conclusion.