Thyroid cancer diagnoses are the third fastest rising cancer diagnosis in the USA alone. Despite thyroid cancer patients generally having an excellent prognosis, it has been shown that elderly patients are more likely to undergo sub-therapeutic management, despite having more aggressive disease. This study addresses the risk of mortality and morbidity in elderly patients undergoing thyroid surgery for thyroid cancer. This study quantitatively investigated the risks of elderly patients who underwent thyroidectomy for thyroid cancer regarding mortality/survival, recurrence of disease, and complications arising from thyroidectomy. A systematic search and meta-analysis of journal articles was carried out using the electronic databases PubMed and Medline. These articles contained epidemiological evidence of mortality and recurrence of disease in patients within two groups: above the age of 60, and below the age of 60; who are treated for operatively thyroid cancer and data involving complications following total thyroidectomy were included in the meta-analysis for this study. The meta-analysis consisted of a total of 16 studies which met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. This study confirmed that patients have increased risk of recurrence (HR 4.84; 95% CI = 2.22-10.52; I2=0.00; P=0.98) including increased risk of lymph node recurrence and distant metastases. Additionally, there was an increased risk of complications (OR 1.82; 95% CI = 0.88-3.77; I2 =77.01; P = 0.005) following thyroidectomy compared to patients in the younger cohort. This study also qualitatively compared survival data between the two age cohorts, and identified a reduced overall survival and disease free survival for elderly patients. This study puts forth evidence for the classification of elderly patients as higher risk of mortality and morbidity following total thyroidectomy for thyroid cancer and puts further emphasis on early detection and intervention.