Faculty Collaboration Database

Increased morbidity in overweight and obese liver transplant recipients: a single-center experience of 1325 patients from the United Kingdom. Liver Transpl 2013 May;19(5):551-62

Date

02/15/2013

Pubmed ID

23408499

DOI

10.1002/lt.23618

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-84876893306 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   105 Citations

Abstract

Obesity levels in the United Kingdom have risen over the years. Studies from the United States and elsewhere have reported variable outcomes for obese liver transplant recipients in terms of post-liver transplant morbidity, mortality, and graft survival. This study was designed to analyze the impact of the body mass index (BMI) on outcomes following adult liver transplantation. Data from 1994 to 2009 were retrieved from a prospectively maintained database. Patients were stratified into 5 World Health Organization BMI categories: underweight (<18.5 kg/m(2)), normal weight (18.5-24.9 kg/m(2)), overweight (25.0-29.9 kg/m(2)), obese (30.0-34.9 kg/m(2)), and morbidly obese (≥35.0 kg/m(2)). The primary outcome was an evaluation of graft and patient survival, and the secondary outcome was an assessment of postoperative morbidity. Bonferroni correction was applied with statistical significance set at P < 0.012. Kaplan-Meier curves were used to study the effects of BMI on graft and patient survival. A total of 1325 patients were included in the study: underweight (n = 47 or 3.5%), normal-weight (n = 643 or 48.5%), overweight (n = 417 or 31.5%), obese (n = 145 or 10.9%), and morbidly obese patients (n = 73 or 5.5%). The rate of postoperative infective complications was significantly higher in the overweight (60.7%, P < 0.01) and obese recipients (65.5%, P < 0.01) versus the normal-weight recipients (50.4%). The morbidly obese patients had a longer mean intensive care unit (ICU) stay than the normal-weight patients (4.7 versus 3.2 days, P = 0.03). The mean hospital stay was longer for the overweight (22.4 days, P < 0.001), obese (21.3 days, P = 0.04), and morbidly obese recipients (22.4 days, P = 0.047) versus the normal-weight recipients (18.0 days). There was no difference in death-censored graft survival or patient survival between the groups. In conclusion, this is the largest and only reported UK series on BMI and outcomes following liver transplantation. Overweight and obese patients have significantly increased morbidity in terms of infective complications after liver transplantation and, consequently, longer ICU and hospital stays.

Author List

Hakeem AR, Cockbain AJ, Raza SS, Pollard SG, Toogood GJ, Attia MA, Ahmad N, Hidalgo EL, Prasad KR, Menon KV

Author

Kondragunta Rajendra Prasad MBBS Professor in the Surgery department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adult
Body Mass Index
Female
Graft Survival
Humans
Length of Stay
Liver Transplantation
Male
Middle Aged
Morbidity
Obesity
Overweight
Postoperative Complications
Prognosis
Prospective Studies
United Kingdom