Abstract Background Several cohort studies aimed at demonstrating an increased risk of cancer incidence and mortality in patients with a pre-existing diagnosis of heart failure (HF); however, conflicting results have been reported that call for systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods We conducted a systematic search of multiple databases from their inception through July 2022 and retrieved only papers reporting hazard ratios (HR). Random and fixed-effects models were fit for the study duration. Results The analysis included nine cohort studies for a total of 515′041 HF cases and 1′365’452 controls without HF. Although high heterogeneity among studies was observed, the HR for incident cancer in HF patients was statistically significant (1.45, 95% CI 1.31–1.61, p