ObjectivesTo systematically review the association between serum high sensitivity C-reactive protein (HS-CRP) and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).MethodsPubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, CNKI, SinoMed and WanFang Data databases were electronically searched to collect case-control studies on the association between HS-CRP and NAFLD from inception to October, 2019. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed risk of bias of included studies. Meta-analysis was then performed using RevMan 5.3 software.ResultsA total of 22 case-control studies involving 5 825 subjects were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that HS-CRP levels in NAFLD group were higher than non-NAFLD group (SMD=1.25, 95%CI 0.81 to 1.68, P<0.000 01). The results of subgroup analysis showed that, HS-CRP levels in NAFLD group were higher in Asian region (SMD=1.32, 95%CI 0.82 to 1.83, P<0.000 01), however not in American region (SMD=0.48, 95%CI ?0.02 to 0.98, P=0.06). HS-CRP levels in NAFLD group were higher in BMI≥30 kg/m2 group (SMD=0.37, 95%CI 0.19 to 0.54, P<0.000 1), however not in BMI<30 kg/m2 group (SMD=1.19, 95%CI ?0.28 to 2.66, P=0.11). Additionally, HS-CRP levels in NAFLD group were higher with or without diabetes (SMD=0.86, 95%CI 0.49 to 1.24, P<0.000 01; SMD=1.47, 95%CI 0.84 to 2.10, P<0.000 01).ConclusionsCurrent evidence shows that NAFLD patients have higher levels of HS-CRP than non-NAFLD patients, and are affected by high levels of BMI and geographical regions. Therefore, HS-CRP may play important roles in the non-invasive field of NAFLD detection. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high quality studies are required to verify above conclusions.