Background:Osteoarthritis (OA) is a complex disease which can be caused by both environmental and genetic factors. A functional locus rs143383 of bone morphogenetic protein-14 (BMP-14) has been pointed out to be associated with OA etiology, but conflicting conclusions have been reached. To provide a more comprehensive conclusion about this issue, we performed this meta-analysis.Methods:Relevant studies were searched from electronic databases including PubMed, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Embase, and Wanfang. The strength of correlations was examined with pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). Subgroup analyses stratified by ethnicity and source of control were carried out. All statistical analyses were performed with STATA software (version 12.0).Results:Overall, BMP-14 rs143383 polymorphism was negatively correlated with the susceptibility to knee OA and hand OA under genetic contrasts of CC versus TT, CC + TC versus TT, CC versus TT + TC, C versus T, TC versus TT (OR = 0.71, 95% CI = 0.65–0.79; OR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.73–0.89; OR = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.71–0.86; OR = 0.85, 95% CI = 0.81–0.90; OR = 0.84, 95% CI = 0.75–0.93), and TC versus TT, CC versus TT + TC, C versus T (OR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.65–0.89; OR = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.68–0.92; OR = 0.90, 95% CI = 0.85–0.95), respectively; similar results were observed in subgroups after stratification analyses. Additionally, the polymorphism also reduced hip OA risk in Asian group after stratified analysis by ethnicity.Conclusion:BMP-14 rs143383 polymorphism may be a protective factor against OA occurrence.