Abstract:[Objective] To systematically evaluate the clinical efficacy of 4 cannulated screws (4CS) versus 3 cannulated screws (3CS) in the treatment of femoral neck fractures. [Methods] The PubMed, CNKI, Cochrane library, Wanfang, VIP, Embase, CBM and ChiCTR da- tabase were searched to collect the literature on the comparison of 4CS and 3CS internal fixations for treatment of femoral neck fractures with retrieval time from the establishment of the database to January 2023. The quality assessment and data extraction were completed inde- pendently by two researchers, and meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. [Results] A total of 5 literatures with 436 pa- tients were included, involving 216 patients in the 4CS group and 220 patients in the 3CS group. As results of the meta-analysis, the 4CS group was significantly greater than the 3CS group in terms of the operative time (MD=0.93, 95%CI 0.27~1.58, P<0.001), intraoperative blood loss (MD=0.59, 95%CI 0.09~1.08, P=0.02), intraoperative fluoroscopy (MD=6.53, 95%CI 5.41~7.64, P<0.001). However, the 4CS group proved significantly superior to the 3CS group in terms of Harris score 6 months postoperatively (MD=5.07, 95%CI 1.77~8.37, P= 0.003), fracture healing time (MD=-0.35, 95%CI -0.59~0.11, P=0.004), and fracture nonunion rate (OR=0.3, 95%CI 0.11~0.84, P=0.02), femoral head necrosis rate (OR=0.52, 95%CI 0.26~1.03, P=0.06) and screw loosening rate (OR=0.33, 95%CI 0.13~0.83, P=0.02). There were no significant differences in incision length, postoperative walking time and hospital stay between the two groups (P>0.05). [Conclusion] The 4CS has the advantages of short fracture healing time, low incidence of fracture nonunion, high Harris score 6 months after sur- gery, low loosening rate, and significant better clinical outcomes over the 3CS in the treatment of femoral neck fracture. However, 4CS re- quires longer operation time, more intraoperative bleeding and more intraoperative fluoroscopy than 3CS.