ObjectiveTo systematically review the factors for cognitive impairment in hypertensive patients. MethodsPubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, Ovid, Scopus, EBSCO, CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP and CBM databases were electronically searched to collect studies on factors for cognitive impairment in hypertensive patients from inception to March 2023. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and evaluated the risk of bias of the included studies. Meta-analysis was then performed by using RevMan 5.3 and Stata 14.0 software. ResultsA total of 26 articles involving 13 464 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that antihypertensive drug use (OR=0.22, 95%CI 0.09 to 0.59, P=0.002), blood pressure was well controlled (OR=0.48, 95%CI 0.37 to 0.623, P<0.001), and social support (OR=0.94, 95%CI 0.90 to 0.97, P<0.001) were protective factors for CI in hypertensive patients. And age (OR=1.17, 95%CI 1.12 to 1.22, P<0.001), age ≥60 (OR=2.10, 95%CI 1.71 to 2.57, P<0.001), female (OR=1.55, 95%CI 1.25 to 1.93, P<0.001), single (OR=2.39, 95%CI 1.89 to 3.03, P<0.001), smoking (OR=3.40, 95%CI 2.40 to 4.82, P < 0.001), educational level (<college） (OR=3.46, 95%CI 2.73 to 4.39, P<0.001), education years (≥12 years) (OR=2.10, 95%CI 1.43 to 3.07, P<0.001), diabetes (OR=2.82, 95%CI 2.22 to 3.58, P<0.001), hyperlipidemia (OR=1.48, 95%CI 1.10 to 2.00, P=0.01), total cholesterol (OR=1.11, 95%CI 1.01 to 1.22, P=0.02), CVHI anomalies (OR=6.24, 95%CI 3.75 to 10.37, P<0.001), sleep disorder (OR=2.92, 95%CI 1.93 to 4.42, P<0.001), systolic blood pressure (OR=1.04, 95%CI 1.02 to 1.06, P<0.001), orthostatic hypotension (OR=1.39, 95%CI 1.20 to 1.62, P<0.001, grade 2 hypertension (OR=2.62,95%CI 1.83 to 3.73, P<0.001), grade 3 hypertension (OR=3.15, 95%CI 1.90 to 5.22, P<0.001), stress history (OR=4.57, 95%CI 2.86 to 7.30, P<0.001) were all risk factors. ConclusionThe current evidence shows that there are many factors affecting the incidence of CI in hypertensive patients, and the assessment of the factors affecting the incidence of cognitive dysfunction in hypertensive patients should be more comprehensive in the future.