ABSTRACT: This meta-analysis aims to evaluate whether the CD40 rs1883832 polymorphism is associated with Graves' disease (GD) risk in different populations. We performed a systematic literature search in China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Web of Science, and Pubmed databases to identify case-control association studies on the association between rs1883832 and GD risk. For each study we calculated the odds ratios (OR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI) assuming dominant, recessive and homozygote models. We then calculated pooled ORs and 95 % CIs. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 17 studies involving 4707 cases and 4215 controls were included in the meta-analysis. The results showed that rs1883832 was associated with GD risk in Asians under dominant (CT + TT vs CC, OR=0.67, 95 % CI: 0.56-0.81, P<0.001), recessive (TT vs CT + CC, OR=0.58, 95 % CI: 0.47-0.72, P<0.001), and homozygote (TT vs CC, OR=0.49, 95 % CI: 0.37-0.64, P<0.001) models. In Caucasians, rs1883832 was associated with GD risk under the dominant model (CT + TT vs CC, OR=0.82, 95 % CI: 0.68-0.99, P=0.042). Besides GD, we evaluated the relation of rs1883832 with Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO), finding that rs1883832 was associated with GO under the dominant model (CT + TT vs CC, OR=0.82, 95 % CI: 0.69-0.98, P=0.031). The findings of our meta-analysis suggest that the CD40 rs1883832 polymorphism is protective against GD and GO in Asians and Caucasians.