Objective:To systematically review the efficacy and safety of tolvaptan for the patients with heart failure. Methods:Databases of PubMed,Embase,Web of Science,The Cochrane Library,CBM,CNKI,VIP and WanFang Data were electronically searched for rel-evant studies from inception to October 2013. Two reviewers independently screened literature,extracted data,and assessed the meth-odological quality of the included studies according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria as well as the methods recommended by the Cochrane Collaboration. Then,Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.2.3 software. Results:Eight trials involving 4 908 patients were included. The results of Meta-analysis showed that tolvaptan was more effective than placebo in increasing the serum sodium concentration(MD=3.63,95%CI=3.32 to 3.94,P=0.000),and in decreasing body weight(MD=-0.81,95%CI=-0.92 to -0.70,P=0.000). In addition,the incidence of adverse events was significantly lower in the placebo group(OR=0.27,95%CI=0.20 to 0.38,P=0.000). Conclusion:Tolvaptan is effective for patients with heart failure and hyponatremia and patients can tolerate the adverse events well.