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Context Aortic stiffness is an emerging predictor of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Current data about the effect of subclinical and overt thyroid hormone disorders on aortic stiffness are often conflicting. Objective Primary outcome was to investigate if subclinical and overt thyroid hormone disorders were associated with aortic stiffness. Secondary outcome was to identify disease effect modifiers. Data sources PubMed, Google Scholar, SCOPUS, Web of Sciences, and the Cochrane Library Methods Eligible studies included reports of pulse wave velocity (PWV), which is the gold-standard method for measuring aortic stiffness, in patients with subclinical and overt thyroid disorders. Data extraction Two investigators independently identified eligible studies and extracted data. Pooled mean difference (MD) was the summary effect measure. Data were presented in forest plots with outlier and influential case diagnostics. Univariate meta-regression analysis was used to identify effect modifiers. Synthesis Eleven observational studies were selected, including 1239 patients with subclinical hypothyroidism, 81 patients with overt hypothyroidism, 338 patients with thyrotoxicosis, and 12715 controls. PWV was significantly higher in subclinical (p<0.001) and overt hypothyroidism (p<0.001), as well as in patients with thyrotoxicosis (p=0.027) as compared to controls. Age was an effect modifier in hypothyroid patients. Conclusion This study shows that both overt and subclinical hypothyroidism as well as thyrotoxicosis were associated with an increase of aortic stiffness. The impact of treatment of these conditions on artic stiffness should be assessed in clinical trials.

Growing evidence shows that arterial stiffness measurement provides important prognostic information and improves clinical stratification of cardiovascular risk. Thyroid and parathyroid diseases are endocrine diseases with a relevant cardiovascular burden. The objective of this review was to consider the relationship between arterial stiffness and thyroid and parathyroid diseases in human clinical studies. We performed a systematic literature review of articles published in PubMed/MEDLINE from inception to December 2021, restricted to English languages and to human adults. We selected relevant articles about the relationship between arterial stiffness and thyroid and parathyroid diseases. For each selected article, data on arterial stiffness were extracted and factors that may have an impact on arterial stiffness were identified. We considered 24 papers concerning hypothyroidism, 9 hyperthyroidism and 16 primary hyperparathyroidism and hypoparathyroidism. Most studies evidenced an increase in arterial stiffness biomarkers in hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism and primary hyperparathyroidism, even in subclinical and mild forms, although heterogeneity of measurement methods and of study designs prevented a definitive conclusion, suggesting that the assessment of arterial stiffness may be considered in the clinical evaluation of cardiovascular risk in these diseases.