Association between preoperative hypokalemia and postoperative complications in elderly patients: a retrospective study

Table 5 Postoperative outcomes

	Hypokalemia	Normokalemia	P	Adjustted P
Blood potassium level after surgery (mmol/L)	3.50 (3.34 to 3.8)	4.08 (3.8 to 4.40)	< 0.001^{^}
Postoperative complications	39 (8.94%)	41 (7.44%)	0.390^#	0.854^*
PACU stay time (min)	32 (22 to 50)	31 (20 to 49)	0.485^{^}
LOS (d)	15 (12 to 21)	16 (13 to 22)	0.091^{^}
30-day mortality	8 (1.83%)	9 (1.63%)	0.809^#	0.629^*

Data were expressed by median and IQR, or frequencies and percentages
^*Adjusted by logistic regression analysis; covariates including age, sex, pre-existing hypokalemia at admission, oral laxative twice or more, and enema twice or more
^Mann–Whitney U test
^#Chi-square test

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