Table 5.

Impact of various characteristics on incidence of symptomatic hypocalcaemia postoperatively.

Characteristic	Overall incidence of post-thyroidectomy hypocalcaemia within 24 hours				P-valuea
	Yes (n = 42)		No (n = 154)
	(n)	(%)	(n)	(%)
Sex:					P = 0.926
Male	3	10.0	30	90.0
Female	14	8.6	149	91.4
Age (years):					P = 0.016
< 50	13	13.7	82	86.3
> 50	4	4.0	97	96.0
Level VI neck dissection:					P = 0.527
Yes	3	12.0	22	88.0
No	14	8.2	157	91.8
Histology:					P = 0.758
Benign	11	9.2	109	90.8
Malignant	6	7.9	70	92.1
Parathyroid excision:					P = 0.121
Yes	3	6.0	47	94.0
No	14	9.6	132	90.4
Postoperative oral supplementation:					P = 0.317
Yes	42	22.6	144	77.4
No	0	0	0	100

^a P-value was determined using chi-square test.