Table 3.

Sensitivity analysis on subclinical hypothyroidism and incident diabetes at last available follow-up

Sensitivity analysis	No. of participants		No. of included studies	OR (95% CI)
	Euthyroid	Shypo
1) Excluding participants with thyroid medication *	22215	1777	11	0.99 (0.82 – 1.21)
2) Excluding participants with thyroid-altering medication **	15826	1145	6	0.96 (0.77 – 1.21)
3) Limiting analyses to participants with repeated TFT at FU	16078	1333	6	0.96 (0.69 – 1.33)
4) Using additional data to define diabetes †	51580	4072	17	1.05 (0.92–1.21)
5) Limiting analyses to studies with <20% missing data at follow-up	14073	1180	3	0.94 (0.75–1.18)
6) Limiting analyses to high-quality studies‡	37577	3013	17	1.02 (0.88 – 1.17)

No. of participants: total number of participants at last available follow-up; Shypo: subclinical hypothyroidism; OR: odds ratio; CI: confidence interval; TFT: thyroid function test; FU: follow-up

^*Thyroid medication was defined as levothyroxine or anti-thyroid medication use

^**Thyroid-altering medication was defined as levothyroxine, anti-thyroid medication, lithium, or amiodarone use

^†If available, self-reported diabetes and linkage to medical records was used to define diabetes

All studies were classified as good quality according to the Newcastle-Ottawa quality assessment scale for cohort studies