COMPARISON OF OUTCOME BETWEEN OBESE AND NON-OBESE PATIENT FOLLOWING SEVERE TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48047/HM.10.2.2024.2049-2057Keywords:
Body mass index, morbidity, mortality, obesity, traumatic brain injury.Abstract
Background: The worldwide healthcare system is significantly impacted by two non-communicable diseases: obesity and traumatic brain injury. Both of the diseases have a significant risk of raising overall population mortality and morbidity. However, it is not well known how obesity affects traumatic brain injury results.
Objective: To analyze the outcome of severe traumatic brain injury in obese versus non-obese patients.
Methods: A cohort study evaluated patients between April 2022 and October 2022 who presented to the emergency department (ED) of Ziauddin Medical University Hospital Karachi with severe traumatic brain injury. A total of 120 patients were randomly distributed into obese group with body mass index (BMI) of ≥ 30 Kg/m2 and non-obese group with BMI of < 30 Kg/m2. Final hospital outcomes, complications, and outcomes on the Glasgow Outcome Score (GOS) were assessed in obese and non-obese severe traumatic brain injury patients. The obesity effect was evaluated using chi-square and independent sample t-test.
Results: Of the total, 85.0% and 88.3% of patients were male, while 15.0% and 11.7% were female, with an overall mean age of 48.3 and 44.7 years in the obese and non-obese groups, respectively. The final hospital outcome was statistically significant and higher among obese group patients than non-obese group patients: death (11.7% vs. 1.7%, p=0.028) and admission (70% vs. 50%, p=0.025). Mean length of stay in emergency (6.77 vs. 4.40 hours, p<0.001) and hospital (5.32 vs. 3.55 days, p=0.003) was significantly high among obese group than non-obese group. Rate of complications and outcomes on the GOS was also significantly higher and worse among obese group than non-obese group (p=0.031 and p=0.004).
Conclusion: It was concluded that one of the main risk factors for treating patients with severe traumatic brain injury is obesity. The obese TBI group has a considerably greater mortality rate, length of stay, complications, and worse outcomes on the GOS as compared to non-obese TBI group.
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