BackgroundThe relationship between acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)/acute lung injury (ALI) and levels of certain inflammatory factors remains controversial. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to summary the available studies evaluated the association between levels of inflammatory factors and ARDS/ALI incidence.MethodsWe searched the PubMed, EmBase, and Cochrane databases for studies published in or before July 2017. For each inflammatory factor, a random effects model was employed to pool results from different studies.ResultsWe identified 63 studies that included 6,243 patients in our meta-analysis. Overall, the results indicated that the levels of angiopoietin (ANG)-2 [standard mean difference (SMD): 1.34; P < 0.001], interleukin (IL)-1β (SMD: 0.92; P = 0.012), IL-6 (SMD: 0.66; P = 0.005), and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α (SMD: 0.98; P = 0.001) were significantly higher in patients with ARDS/ALI than in unaffected individuals. No significant differences were observed between patients with ARDS/ALI and unaffected individuals in terms of the levels of IL-8 (SMD: 0.61; P = 0.159), IL-10 (SMD: 1.10; P = 0.231), and plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI)-1 (SMD: 0.70; P = 0.060).ConclusionsOur findings indicated that ARDS/ALI were associated with elevated levels of ANG-2, IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α, but not with IL-8, IL-10, and PAI-1 levels.