Assessment of Inter-Institutional Post-Operative Hypoparathyroidism Status Using A Common Data Model
Abstract Post-thyroidectomy hypoparathyroidism may result in various transient or permanent symptoms, ranging from tingling sensation to severe breathing difficulties. Its incidence varies among surgeons and institutions, making it difficult to determine its actual incidence and associated factors. This study attempted to estimate the incidence of post-operative hypoparathyroidism in patients at two tertiary institutions that share a common data model, the Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics. Of the 4848 eligible patients at the two institutions who underwent thyroidectomy, 1370 (28.26%) experienced transient hypoparathyroidism and 251 (5.18%) experienced persistent hypoparathyroidism. Univariate logistic regression analysis predicted that, relative to total bilateral thyroidectomy, radical tumor resection was associated with a 48% greater likelihood of transient hypothyroidism and a 102% greater likelihood of persistent hypothyroidism. Moreover, multivariate logistic analysis found that radical tumor resection was associated with a 50% greater likelihood of transient hypothyroidism and a 97% greater likelihood of persistent hypothyroidism than total bilateral thyroidectomy. In addition to estimating the incidence of and risk factors for post-operative hypoparathyroidism at two institutions, these findings, by integrating and analyzing two databases, suggest that this analysis could be expanded to include other large databases that share the same Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics protocol.