Objective To evaluate the safety of intranasal use of beclomethasone dipropionate, budesonide, fluticasone propionate and mometasone for adults and children with chronic sinusitis/nasal polyps and allergic rhinitis. Methods Randomized controlled trials were located. Study quality was evaluated by two researchers independently. RevMan 4.2 was used for meta-analysis. Results Seven RCTs involving 826 patients were included. Compared with placebo, local use of fluticasone proprionate in adults showed no statistically significant trend to increase incidence of acute sinusitis (OR 16.87, 95% CI 0.87 to 301.62), but no significant difference was seen for epistaxis (OR 7.76, 95% CI 0.38 to 157.14): 1 trial, 60 patients. In another trial, no cases of nasal atrophy were reported in either fluticasone or placebo groups. No significant differences were seen between local use ofbudesonide and placebo in adults for dryness of nasal mucosa (OR 3.38, 95%CI 0.66 to 17.18) and epistaxis (OR 2.20, 95%CI 0.39 to 12.32): 1 trial, 193 participantions. No significant difference was seen between budesonide and pollinex for headache (OR 1.71, 95%CI 0.52 to 5.62). No differences were seen between placebo and fluticasone propionate in children for epistaxis (OR 0.85, 95%CI 0.20 to 3.66), headache (OR 0.25, 95%CI 0.02 to 2.83), plasma cortisol concentration (OR 1.56, 95%CI 0.06 to 38.69) and dryness of nasal mucosa (OR 4.76, 95%CI 0.25 to 89.54). Beclomethasone dipropionate in children showed no statistical differences for dryness of nasal mucosa (OR 0.51, 95%CI 0.14 to 1.87), epistaxis (OR 0.68, 95%CI 0.26 to 1.73) and rhinitis (OR 0.47, 95%CI 0.04 to 5.36). No decrease of plasma cortisol concentration was detected in either group. Mometasone and placebo showed no significant differences in children for epistaxis (OR 1.57, 95%CI 0.41 to 5.95), rhinitis (OR 0.33, 95%CI 0.01 to 8.22) or headache (OR 0.33, 95%CI 0.01 to 8.22). Decrease of plasma cortisol concentration was not detected. Conclusions According to this systematic review, long term intranasal use of steroid for adults and children may be safe based on the two high quality, four moderate quality trials and one with b bias. High quality studies with larger sample sizes and in other languages are needed to provide ber evidence.