Predictors of Hypocalcemia after Thyroidectomy: Results from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample

Table 2

Comparison of incidence of postoperative hypocalcemia by patient demographics and clinical characteristics.

Variable^a	Normocalcemic (𝑛=112,962)	Hypocalcemic (𝑛=6,605)	𝑃 value
Age, mean (95% CI), 𝑦	50.8 (50.7–50.9)	48.0 (47.6–48.4)	<.001
Gender			<.001
Female	90,409 (80.9)	5,603 (85.1)
Male	21,380 (19.1)	983 (14.9)
Ethnicity			<.001
White	61,240 (71.2)	3,568 (70.3)
Black	10,895 (12.7)	527 (10.4)
Hispanic	7,282 (8.5)	566 (11.2)
Asian or Pacific Islander	3,615 (4.2)	240 (4.7)
Native American	338 (0.4)	16 (0.3)
Other	2,688 (3.1)	159 (3.1)
Principal procedure			<.001
Total thyroidectomy	42,413 (37.6)	4,217 (63.9)
Unilateral thyroid lobectomy	45,189 (40.0)	857 (13.0)
Thyroidectomy with unilateral neck dissection	2,215 (2.0)	372 (5.6)
Thyroidectomy with bilateral neck dissection	553 (0.5)	169 (2.6)
Complete substernal thyroidectomy	2,674 (2.4)	285 (4.3)
Partial substernal thyroidectomy	1,543 (1.4)	55 (0.8)
Substernal thyroidectomy, not otherwise specified	101 (0.1)	<10 (0.1)
Other: isthmectomy, partial thyroidectomy not otherwise specified	18,274 (16.2)	643 (9.7)
Length of stay, mean (95% CI), 𝑑	1.85 (1.8–1.9)	3.33 (3.3–3.4)	<.001
Hospital type			.008
Teaching	63,529 (56.3)	3,605 (54.6)
Nonteaching	49,352 (43.7)	2,997 (45.4)
Neoplasm of thyroid gland			<.001
Malignant	33,228 (60.0)	3,050 (85.3)
Benign	22,129 (40.0)	524 (14.7)

^aContinuous variables are presented as mean (95% CI); categorical variables are presented as 𝑛 (%).