Objective:To systematically review the effect of preoperative pulmonary rehabilitation on postoperative pulmonary complications in patients with lung cancer.Methods:The randomized controlled trials of preoperative pulmonary rehabilitation for lung cancer published in the past 10 years were retrieved in China Biomedical Literature Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, VIP, WanFang Data, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library and Wiley Online Library. The search limit was from January 1, 2010 to January 1, 2021. The quality evaluation and data extraction of the included article were carried out, and the Meta-analysis of the outcome indicators of postoperative pulmonary complications was conducted.Results:A total of 12 articles were included. Meta-analysis showed that the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications in the intervention group was lower than that in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant [ RR=0.42, 95% CI (0.32, 0.55) , P<0.01]. Subgroup analysis was performed according to the duration of intervention, and the results showed that when the intervention duration was one week, the difference between the intervention group and the control group was statistically significant [ RR=0.36, 95% CI (0.24, 0.55) , P<0.01], when the intervention duration was more than one week, the difference between the intervention group and the control group was statistically significant [ RR=0.48, 95% CI (0.33, 0.68) , P<0.01) ]. Subgroup analysis was conducted with different evaluation time after operation, and the results showed that when the evaluation time was one month, the difference between the intervention group and the control group was statistically significant [ RR=0.48, 95% CI (0.34, 0.68) , P<0.01], when the evaluation time was more than one month, there was no significant difference between the intervention group and the control group [ RR=0.39, 95% CI (0.08, 1.85) , P=0.24]. Except for pneumonia or pulmonary infection, atelectasis, and bronchopleural fistula, there was no significant difference in the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications in patients with lung cancer ( P>0.05) . Conclusions:Exercise that includes breathing training for at least one week is a common intervention for preoperative pulmonary rehabilitation. Preoperative pulmonary rehabilitation is beneficial to reduce the overall and one month postoperative pulmonary complications after lung cancer surgery, but the impact on postoperative pulmonary complications evaluated for more than one month and specific complications requires further study.