ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the prevalence and differences between gender and grades of suicide ideation among middle school students in China from 2000 to 2012 so as to provide basis for suicide prevention among middle school students.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Electronic search strategy was carried out, using PubMed, Wanfang Database, VIP Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and CBM to collect data on suicide ideation among middle school students. Fixed effects model or random effects model was employed according to statistical tests for the homogeneity. Publication bias was assessed by rank correlation test.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>40 papers were included for meta-analysis, with a total sample size of 320 375. The combined prevalence of suicide ideation was 17.99% (95%CI: 16.59% - 19.49%). Prevalence rates of suicide ideation were stratified by factors as gender and grade at school. Pooled prevalence rates on suicide ideation were as follows: 14.71% (95%CI: 13.42% - 16.11%) and 19.92% (95%CI: 19.30% - 21.64%), P < 0.05 for boys and girls;16.94% (95%CI: 15.35% - 18.66%) and 19.01% (95%CI: 17.23% - 20.93%), P < 0.05 for senior or junior high school students, respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>There were differences in the prevalence of suicide ideation among middle school students between genders and grades in China.</p>