ObjectiveTo systematically review the efficacy of statins for contrast induced nephropathy (CIN) prevention in cardiac intervention surgery patients. MethodsWe electronically searched databases including PubMed, Web of Knowledge, The Cochrane Library (Issue 5, 2015), VIP, WanFang Data and CNKI to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about statins for CIN prevention in cardiac intervention surgery patients from inception to May 2015. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.2 software. ResultsA total of 25 RCTs involving 37 353 patients were included, among them, 3 794 were CIN patients. The results of meta-analysis indicated that: compared with the placebo/blank group, the incidence rate of CIN was decreased in the statins group with a significant difference (OR=0.68, 95%CI 0.63 to 0.73, P<0.000 01). ConclusionCurrent evidence shows statins can reduce incidence of CIN in cardiac intervention surgery patients. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, the above conclusions need more high quality studies to verify.