Table 1.

The clinical characteristics of the patients in the 3 groups.

Variables	Group A (n = 383)	Group B (n = 297)	Group C (n = 22)	P value*	P value†
Age (years)	42.8 ± 12.8	42.3 ± 13.2	43.7 ± 10.3	0.643	0.736
Gender (male/female)	112/271	75/222	5/17	0.261	0.633
BMI (kg/m2)	23.6 ± 3.4	23.2 ± 3.4	22.8 ± 2.5	0.082	0.275
Hypertension	47	36	1	1	0.495
Diabetes	11	7	0	0.811	1
Thyroiditis	116	77	8	0.230	0.635
Graves’ disease	12	7	1	0.642	0.522
Hypothyroidism	3	5	0	0.306	1
Nodular goiter	228	175	9	0.875	0.118
Calcium (mmol/L)	2.32 ± 0.37	2.30 ± 0.22	2.31 ± 0.11	0.322	0.859
PTH (pmol/L)	5.42 ± 1.65	5.65 ± 2.27	5.74 ± 1.82	0.421	0.553
Surgical extent (UCND/≥BCND)	125/258	123/174	5/17	0.020	0.481

*Groups A vs B; ^†groups A vs C.

BCND, bilateral central neck dissection; BMI, body mass index; PTH, parathyroid hormone; UCND, unilateral central neck dissection.