Abstract: The wind turbine gearbox is one of the important components in wind turbines, and failure of the wind turbine gearbox can seriously affect the fatigue life and reliability of the wind turbine. In this article, a systematic literature review on the analysis of load patterns and load effects of wind turbine gearboxes is provided, and research methods for different types of load patterns in wind turbine gearboxes are introduces, emphasizing that impact loads cannot be ignored. Finally, the idea of separating loads through using signal analysis and integrated learning methods based on the measured data so as to study their patterns is proposed; and the load types and load effects that have significant impact on the fatigue life of key components of wind power gearboxes are summarized. It provides a reference for accurate design of wind power gearboxes and analysis of their reliability.