BACKGROUND: The exact aetiology of vitiligo has not yet been established. Oxidative stress is involved in the pathophysiology of vitiligo. It has been described that some polymorphisms in the catalase (CAT) gene may affect the risk of vitiligo. However, the results were inconsistent. OBJECTIVE: We performed a meta-analysis of the published studies to derive a more precise estimate of the association between CAT T/C at codon 389 in exon 9 polymorphisms and vitiligo risk. METHODS: The PubMed, Medline, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases were searched to identify relevant published studies. RESULTS: Four case-control studies (cases, 645; controls, 689) that investigated the association between C/T polymorphisms of CAT exon 9 and the risk of vitiligo were retrieved and analysed. Our findings suggested a significant association between the CAT T/C exon 9 polymorphism and vitiligo risk (CT + TT vs. CC pooled odds ratio, 1.43; 95% confidence interval, 1.14-1.80; P = 0 .002). CONCLUSION: We found a significant correlation between the CAT T/C exon 9 polymorphism and the risk of vitiligo.