Table 2.

Clinical outcomes in patients who received either perioperative calcium and vitamin D supplementation or postoperative calcium and vitamin D supplementation.

Outcomes	Perioperative supplementation group (n=68) [n (%)]	Postoperative supplementation group (n=66) [n (%)]	P value
Symptomatic hypocalcemia
3 hours	6 (8.8)	14 (21.2)	0.054
24 hours	3 (4.4)	15 (22.7)	0.002
48 hours	0	9 (13.6)	0.001
72 hours	0	3 (4.5)	0.117
14 d	0	0	-
Participants with at least one episode of symptomatic hypocalcemia a	6 (8.8)	15 (22.7)	0.033
Biochemical hypocalcemia b
3 hours	8 (11.8)	16 (24.2)	0.073
24 hours	4 (5.9)	17 (25.8)	0.002
48 hours	0	5 (7.6)	0.027
14 d	0	0	-
Corrected calcium (mean±SD) (mg/dl)
3 hours	8.31±0.48	8.14±0.51	0.053
24 hours	8.71±0.53	8.47±0.79	0.046
48 hours	8.79±0.56	8.56±0.70	0.039
14 days	9.14±0.57	8.98±0.49	0.068
Parathyroid hormone (mean±SD) (pg/ml)
3 hours	22.81±12.26	22.19±14.93	0.794
24 hours	17.05±7.33	16.26±10.17	0.609
14 days	21.54±9.95	22.64±12.07	0.565
Intravenous calcium infusion requirement	2 (2.9)	8 (12.1)	0.053
Additional oral calcium requirement
24 hours	3 (4.4)	7 (10.6)	0.204
48 hours	2 (2.9)	8 (12.1)	0.053
72 hours	1 (1.5)	4 (6.1)	0.205
14 days	1 (1.5)	3 (4.5)	0.362
Calcium carbonate intake (mean±SD) (mg/d)
24 hours	4698±930	4977±1369	0.175
48 hours	4632±765	5045±1479	0.044
72 hours	4566±545	4772±1081	0.163
14 days	4566±545	4704±944	0.299
Surgical complications
Vocal cord paralysis	4 (5.9)	3 (4.5)	1.000
Hematoma	1 (1.5)	2 (3)	0.617
Medication-induced hypercalcemia	0	0	-
Gastrointestinal side effects	2 (2.9)	0	0.496
Length of hospital stay (mean±SD) (d)	4.1±1.2	4.6±2.1	0.065

Bold values are statistically significant.

Corrected calcium level: normal range=8.0–10.5 mg/dl, parathyroid hormone level: normal range=15–65 pq/ml.

^a Some participants might have more than one episode of symptomatic hypocalcemia at different time points.

^b Biochemical hypocalcemia was diagnosed if the corrected serum calcium level was lower than 8 mg/dl.