Aims: To identify studies about the prevalence of alcohol use disorder (AUD) in mainland China, evaluate the quality of these studies and conduct a meta-analysis of the prevalence of AUD in China's adult population and in population subgroups defined by sex, age and urban versus rural residency.

Methods: Relevant studies published prior to January 2014 were identified from the following databases: China Knowledge Resource Integrated (CNKI), Wanfang, Pubmed, EmBase and Web of Science. A 16-item quality assessment inventory for epidemiological studies in mainland China was constructed to evaluate the methodological rigor of the studies. A total of 38 studies including 1 304 354 individuals were identified. Outcomes included current and life-time prevalence of AUD, alcohol dependence and alcohol abuse.

Results: The pooled life-time and current prevalence of alcohol dependence were 1.4% [95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.3, 1.5] and 1.5% (95% CI = 1.2, 1.9). For males, pooled estimates of the current prevalence of alcohol dependence, alcohol abuse and AUD were 4.4 (95% CI = 3.1, 5.7), 4.0 (95% CI = 2.2, 5.7) and 10.1% (95% CI = 4.7, 15.4), respectively; the corresponding values for females were all below 0.2, 0.1, and 0.1%. There was large between-study heterogeneity in the prevalence measures that was associated with sample size, the use of key informants and the use of substitute respondents. The quality of included studies was generally low. Higher-quality studies reported higher prevalence.

Conclusions: Alcohol use disorder is an urgent public health problem in China, especially among males. When using high-quality studies, current and life-time prevalence estimates of alcohol dependence in China measure 2.2% and 3.7%, respectively, approaching those of the Netherlands, United States and other western countries.