Table 4.

Postoperative pain scoring, quality of life, hospital cost

	Intercostal (mean ± SD)	Subxiphoid (mean ± SD)	P‐value
Postoperative pain scoring
Postoperative pain (POD) zero	4.51 ± 0.88	3.29 ± 1.14	<0.001
Postoperative pain (POD) 1	4.25 ± 0.61	2.68 ± 0.80	<0.001
Postoperative pain (POD) 3	2.1 ± 0.4	1.5 ± 1.01	<0.001
Postoperative pain before discharge	1.8 ± 0.36	0.94 ± 0.7	<0.001
Quality of life score
Quality of life after three months	68.10 ± 2.55	66.49 ± 2	<0.001
Quality of life after six months	64.86 ± 2.21	63.17 ± 1.53	<0.001
Quality of life after one year	60.95 ± 1.36	60.22 ± 0.71	<0.001
Cost (expressed in RMB)
Cost, median (min‐max)	45 277 (35 967.69–66 711.48)	51 535 (34 535–61 100)	<0.001

POD, postoperative day; RMB, Chinese renminbi.