Objective: We performed a meta-analysis to estimate the association between IL-13 gene rs20541 (R130Q) polymorphism and the susceptibility of glioma. Patients and Methods: Potentially eligible studies published before February 1, 2016 were searched in 4 databases including PubMed, EMBASE, EBSCO, and Ovid. Odds ratios (ORs) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were used to estimate the strength of relationship between the IL-13 gene rs20541 polymorphism and glioma susceptibility. Stata 11.0 software was used to perform the present meta-analysis. Results: In total, 10 case-control studies with 13 datasets including 3,123 cases and 5,390 controls were identified. A significant increase in glioma susceptibility was found in the dominant model (AA + AG vs. GG: OR = 1.14, 95% CI 1.01-1.29; P = 0.031). Significantly decreasing glioma susceptibility was found for Asians in the heterozygote comparison (AG vs. GG: OR = 0.74, 95% CI 0.55-0.99; P = 0.042) and the allele contrast genetic model (A vs. G: OR = 0.67, 95% CI 0.47-0.96; P = 0.028). By contrast, in Caucasians, a significant increase in glioma susceptibility was found in the dominant model (AA + AG vs. GG: OR = 1.25, 95% CI 1.11-1.41; P = 0.000). Conclusion: There may be a weak association between the IL-13 gene rs20541 polymorphism and glioma susceptibility, and the associations may be different between ethnicities. (c) 2018 S. Karger GmbH, Freiburg