ObjectivesTo systematically review the epidemiological characteristics of frailty in Chinese elderly population.MethodsPubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, CNKI, VIP and WanFang Data databases were electronically searched to collect studies on the epidemiological characteristics of frailty in China from January, 1978 to December, 2018. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed risk of bias of included studies, and then, meta-analysis was performed by using OpenMetaanalyst software.ResultsA total of 29 studies, involving 64 306 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that: the prevalence of frailty in Chinese community was 12.8% (95%CI 0.105 to 0.152), in Chinese hospital was 22.6% (95%CI 0.130 to 0.270), and in nursing home was 44.3% (95% CI 0.222 to 0.664). In the subgroup analysis by gender: male prevalence in community was 9.2% (95%CI 0.074 to 0.110), female was 12.9% (95%CI 0.100 to 0.157). Prevalence of male in hospital was 23.3% (95%CI 0.124 to 0.342), Prevalence of female was 17.9% (95%CI 0.122 to 0.237). In the subgroup analysis by region: the prevalence of frailty in north China was 13.4% (95%CI 0.093 to 0.175), in east China was 13.6% (95%CI 0.083 to 0.189), and in Taiwan province and HongKong was 9.8% (95% CI 0.078 to 0.199). In the subgroup analysis by age: the prevalence of frailty among the elderly aged 65 to 74 was 12.2% (95%CI 0.037 to 0.206), and 33.2% (95%CI 0.136 to 0.527) among the elderly aged 75 to 84, and 46.8% (95%CI 0.117 to 0.820) among the elderly aged above 85. For investigation based on time periods, the prevalence of frailty was 9.1% (95%CI 0.078 to 0.104) from 2003 to 2010, and 14.4% (95%CI 0.111 to 0.177) from 2011 to 2018.ConclusionsThe prevalence of frailty in China is high. Economic underdevelopment is higher in more developed regions. The prevalence in hospital population is higher than that in community population. The prevalence of female in community and rural is higher than male. The higher ages has higher prevalence. The prevalence of frailty from 2011 to 2018 is higher than from 2003 to 2010. As no uniform screening tools exist, the results of this study requires further validations by high quality research.