Abstract
Introduction: The “obesity paradox” has been a controversial topic in health outcome research. Age has been a significant cofounder and a new study is needed.
Purpose: To determine the relationship between obesity and in-hospital mortality, morbidity, and health care resource utilization in patients admitted to the hospital in the United States with acute pulmonary embolism (PE).
Method: A retrospective study was conducted using the AHRQ-HCUP National Inpatient Sample for the year 2014. Adults (≥ 18 years) with a principal diagnosis of acute PE and a secondary diagnosis of obesity were identified using ICD-9 codes as described in the literature. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes were length of hospital stay (LOS), and total hospitalization costs. Propensity score (PS) using the next neighbor method without replacement with 1:1 matching was utilized to adjust for confounders.
Results: In total, 171,233 hospital admissions with a primary diagnosis of acute PE were identified, of which 16.4% were obese. The index inhospital moralities were not statistically different between obese and non-obese patients (1.9 vs 7.1%, p=0.24).
The 30-day readmission rate among were similar between the obese and non-obese patients (p=0.14). The most common reason for readmission was DVT (12%). Obesity and non-obese patients have similar LOS (p=0.46) and total hospital cost (p=0.52).
Conclusion: In this study, the mortality difference between obese and non-obese patients was not statistically significant. This clarifies that among acute PE patient, obesity paradox may not hold true.
Footnotes
Cite this article as: European Respiratory Journal 2020; 56: Suppl. 64, 3575.
This abstract was presented at the 2020 ERS International Congress, in session “Respiratory viruses in the "pre COVID-19" era”.
This is an ERS International Congress abstract. No full-text version is available. Further material to accompany this abstract may be available at www.ers-education.org (ERS member access only).
- Copyright ©the authors 2020