Background: PD-L1 tumor expression has been associated with poor prognosis in a variety of solid tumors, including lung cancer, and represents a validated target for immune checkpoint inhibition in advanced malignances. It remains unknown, however, if PD-L1 can be used to predict survival in early stage, surgically treated cancers. This meta-analysis compares PD-L1 tumor expression and long term survival after surgical resection in early non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).Methods: PubMed was searched to identify eligible studies that compared survival of surgically resected stage I-III NSCLC patients according to PD-L1 tumor expression. Included studies were grouped according to measurement criteria of PD-L1 expression: 1%, 5%, 50% cutoffs or H-score. Meta-analysis was performed using a linear mixed-effects model to determine overall survival (OS). I 2 was used as a measure of heterogeneity.Results: There were 40 eligible studies, including 10,380 patients. Regardless of cut-off used, higher PD-L1 tumor expression was associated with worse OS [hazard ratio (HR) 1% : 1.59, 95% confidence interval