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A less invasive endoscopic therapy has been used as a routine treatment for superficial esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SESCC). However, lymph node metastasis (LNM) in SESCC limits the effectiveness of this medical procedure. This meta-analysis aimed to screen the risk factors for LNM in SESCC in Asia to provide evidence for clinicians in selecting treatment. We searched the main reference databases for research involving patients who received esophagectomy (open or minimally invasive) with lymph node dissection for SESCC. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. Twenty studies including 3983 patients were obtained in this analysis. The meta-analysis showed that tumor size, macroscopic type of tumor, degree of differentiation, depth of tumor invasion, and lymphovascular involvement are risk factors of LNM in SESCC, whereas age, sex, and tumor location showed no association with LNM. Five variables were screened as predictive factors for LNM in SESCC. The incidence of LNM in SESCC is not rare, and the physicians must be careful when making clinical decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]