Objective: to determine the meaning given to the concept of burden of chronic non-communicable disease among patients, family caregivers, health care professionals and health service institutions. Methodology: a systematic review conducted using the following databases: LILACS, Sage, Willey Online Library, Scopus, Bireme, Scielo, ScienceDirect, PubMed, Proquest and Cuiden. Results: a total of 538 papers were found, 58 of which were selected for analysis. These papers formed three categories: physical burden, psychosocial burden and additional financial effort. Conclusions: the meaning of the burden of chronic disease is built by patients and their caregivers on the basis of their experience and the effects of the illness on their private life, i.e. the impact at the personal or family levels. Health professionals and institutions acknowledge the importance of the experience of the disease for the patient and family, but they both give priority to its economic impact at an institutional and health system level.