PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Phoebe King
AU  - Eric M. Mortensen
AU  - Mary Bollinger
AU  - Marcos I. Restrepo
AU  - Laurel A. Copeland
AU  - Mary Jo V. Pugh
AU  - Brandy Nakashima
AU  - Antonio Anzueto
AU  - Polly Hitchcock Noël
TI  - Impact of obesity on outcomes for patients hospitalised with pneumonia
AID  - 10.1183/09031936.00185211
DP  - 2012 Jan 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - erj01852-2011
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/early/2012/08/30/09031936.00185211.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/early/2012/08/30/09031936.00185211.full
AB  - Obesity is an increasing problem in the United States, and research into the association between obesity and pneumonia has yielded conflicting results.Using Department of Veterans Affairs administrative data between fiscal years 2002–2006, we examined a cohort of patients hospitalised with a discharge diagnosis of pneumonia. Body Mass Index was categorized as underweight (<18.5), normal (18.5–24.9, reference group), overweight (25–29.9), obese (30–39.9), and morbidly obese (≥40). Our primary analyses were multi-level regression models with the outcomes of 90-day mortality, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, need for mechanical ventilation and vasopressor utilization.The cohort comprised of 18,746 subjects. Three percent were underweight, 30% were normal, 35% were overweight, 26% were obese, and 4% were morbidly obese. In the regression models, after adjusting for potential confounders, morbid obesity was not associated with mortality (odds ratio 0.96, 95% confidence interval 0.72–1.28), but obesity was associated with decreased mortality (0.86, 95% 0.74–0.99). Neither obesity nor morbid obesity were associated with ICU admission, use of mechanical ventilation or vasopressor utilization. Underweight patients had increased 90-day mortality (1.40, 1.14–1.73).Although obesity is a growing health epidemic, it appears to have little impact on clinical outcomes and may reduce mortality for veterans hospitalised with pneumonia.