Background The therapeutic success of renal transplantation has been largely attributable to the development of effective and balanced immunosuppressive treatment regimens.This study provides a meta-analysis of a series of randomized controlled trials that compared the effects of tacrolimus and cyclosporine on metabolic syndrome (MetS) and cardiovascular risk factors after renal transplantation.Methods We searched various electronic databases and bibliographies,including MEDLINE,the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials,and EMBASE,for relevant studies published prior to October 2012.Results Our meta-analysis included five randomized controlled trials that examined a total of 923 patients.The tacrolimus group and the cyclosporine group exhibited no significant differences in MetS incidence after renal transplantation; risk ratio (RR):1.06,95％ confidence interval (C/):0.73-1.55,P=0.76.Cyclosporine treatment was associated with a higher incidence of hyperlipidemia (RR:0.50,95％ CI:0.39-0.64,P ＜0.01).Although there were no statistically significant differences,cyclosporine treatment was associated with a higher incidence of hypertension (RR:0.91,95％ CI:0.83-1.00,P=0.06) after renal transplantation compared to tacrolimus treatment,and tacrolimus treatment was associated with a higher incidence of diabetes after renal transplantation (RR:1.79,95％ CI:0.98-3.27,P=0.06) compared to cyclosporine treatment.Conclusions Compared to tacrolimus treatment,cyclosporine treatment was associated with a higher incidence of hyperlipidemia.Future large-scale studies are expected to be conducted to further confirm our findings.