AIM: To evaluate the efficacy of antiviral or corticosteroid treatment on hepatitis B virus-associated glomerulonephritis (HBV-GN). METHODS: Six and five trials were used respectively to evaluate the efficacy of either antiviral or corticosteroid treatment on HBV-GN. Pediatric patients were pooled separately to assess their response to the above treatment modalities. The primary and secondary outcomes were remission of proteinuria and clearance of Hepatitis B e-antigen (HBeAg), respectively. A fixed or random effect model was established to collect the data. RESULTS: The remission rate of proteinuria (RR = 1.69, 95% CI: 1.08-2.65) and the clearance rate of HBeAg (RR = 6.44, 95% CI: 3.11-13.35) were significantly higher in antiviral treatment group than in control group. The proteinuria remission was significantly associated with HBeAg clearance (P = 0.002). However, the difference in proteinuria remission rate was not statistically significant between corticosteroid treatment group and control group (RR = 1.45, 95% CI: 0.68-3.11). Antiviral therapy could significantly promote the HBeAg clearance in pediatric patients, but neither antiviral nor corticosteroid therapy could significantly decrease proteinuria in pediatric patients compared to controls. CONCLUSION: Antiviral but not corticosteroid treatment can decrease proteinuria and promote HBeAg clearance in HBV-GN patients. (C) 2010 Baishideng. All rights reserved.