ObjectiveTo systematically review the correlation between HDL-C level and lung cancer. MethodsSuch databases as PubMed, EBSCO, ISI Web of Science, The Cochrane Library (Issue 8, 2015), VIP, and CNKI Data were electronically searched from inception to September 23th, 2015 to collect studies about the correlation between HDL level and lung cancer. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Then meta-analysis was performed using Stata 12.0 software. ResultsFifteen studies involving 2 015 lung cancer patients and 15 505 controls were finally included. The results of meta-analysis showed that the total HDL-C level in the lung cancer group was lower than that in the control group (SMD=-0.68, 95%CI-0.97 to -0.40, P=0.000). Further subgroup analysis showed that the incidence of lung cancer of different clinical classification (SMDⅠ~Ⅱ=-0.65, 95%CI -1.07 to -0.23, P=0.002; SMDⅢ~Ⅳ=-0.61, 95%CI -0.73 to -0.50, P=0.000), different pathological types (the small cell lung cancer excluded) (SMDAC=-0.76, 95%CI -1.13 to -0.38, P=0.000; SMDSC=-1.51, 95%CI -2.47 to -0.56, P=0.010; SMDSCLC=-1.19, 95%CI -1.42 to -0.95, P=0.000), different quality scores (SMD≥6 score=-0.60, 95%CI -0.89 to -0.29, P=0.000; SMD< 6 score=-0.77, 95%CI -1.48 to -0.0, P=0.015), the number of different studies (SMD≥100 cases=-0.48, 95%CI -0.80 to -0.15, P=0.004; SMD< 100 cases=-0.80, 95%CI -1.33 to -0.27, P=0.003), smoking (SMD=-1.47, 95%CI -2.51 to -0.43, P=0.006) and Asia (SMD=-0.92, 95%CI -1.21 to -0.63, P=0.000) was correlated with the level of HDL-C. ConclusionThe level of HDL-C is related to the incidence of lung cancer, and low HDL-C level may increase the risk of lung cancer. In view of the limitations of the studies, the above conclusions need a great many large samples and adjust the smoking status of the prospective cohort study at home and abroad to verify.