Background: High expression levels of cluster of differentiation 47 (CD47) have been recognized as poor survival in several different cancers. Nevertheless, the significance of CD47 in patients with solid tumors remains controversial. Methods: This meta‑analysis was based on a search of PubMed, Embase and Web of Science databases to obtain 22 eligible published studies (totaling 4,204 patients) between January 2018 and January 2024. The combined hazard ratios (HRs) for overall survival (OS) were evaluated, and the HRs for relapse‑free survival (RFS), progression‑free survival (PFS), and disease‑free survival (DFS), as well as odds ratios for clinicopathological data, were also respectively combined. Results: The data obtained from these studies were extracted from these published studies and analyzed. This study suggested that CD47 overexpression was related to shorter OS times in human solid tumors, with a combined HR for OS (according to the univariate analysis) of HR=1.60 [95% confidence intervals (95% CI): 1.43‑1.79; P<0.00001], and a pooled HR for OS (according to the multivariate analysis) of HR=2.02 (95% CI: 1.43‑2.84; P<0.0001). The subgroup analysis revealed that CD47 overexpression was related with inferior OS rates according to country, cancer type, sample size, analysis type and the method via which the HR value was obtained (i.e., reported or extracted; P<0.05); in addition, a high expression level of CD47 was also a predictor of poor DFS, PFS and RFS rates (P<0.00001). Certain factors, such as lymph node metastasis, TNM staging, differentiation type, tumor recurrence and tobacco exposure, resulted in an upregulation of CD47 (P<0.05). Conclusion: CD47 overexpression was found to be significantly related with an advanced clinical stage, poor differentiation types and tobacco exposure, and may serve as a valuable biomarker for predicting worse prognosis in human solid tumors.