ObjectiveTo investigate the updating period, methods and procedures of Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) in China. MethodsWe searched WanFang Data, VIP, CNKI using the term "guideline" in the title, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM) using "guideline" as the topic word up to December 2012. Then we screened and analyzed all included papers. ResultsA total of 380 Chinese CPGs were included. Thirty-eight (10%) guidelines have been updated, among which the longest update period was 10 years and the shortest was 1 year, and the average update period was 5.1 years. Eight (2%) of the updated guidelines had been updated more than once, and the average update time of them was 3, average update period was 4.9 years. There were 42 (12%) of the rest 342 guidelines which have never been updated mentioned that they would be updated. The detailed information of the updated guidelines according to their clinical objectives were as follow:1 (0.3%) was prevention guideline, of which the update period was 4 years; 8 (2%) were treatment guidelines and the average update period was 4.3 years; 5 (1%) were prevention and treatment guidelines, and the average update period was 6.8 years; 18 (5%) were diagnosis and treatment guidelines, and the average update period was 5.3 years; 4 (1%) were technology guidelines and the average update period was 5.5 years; and the average update period of the 2 (0.5%) integrative guidelines was 2.5 years. Forty (10%) of the total 380 guidelines had described their updating methods. ConclusionAccording the analysis of international studies and domestic guidelines, the update rate of Chinese CPGs is low, the update period is comparatively long, with differences found among them. The reporting of the updated CPGs' methods and procedures is insufficient, with less normalization. Big differences have been found in their updating condition among CPGs of different types and institutional developers.