Effect of Obesity on Clinical and Financial Outcome in Patients Undergoing Liver Transplantation.docVIP

Transplantationsmedizin 2007, 19. Jahrg., S. 32 S. Fujita et al.: Effect of Obesity on Clinical and Financial Outcome ... Effect of Obesity on Clinical and Financial Outcome in Patients Undergoing Liver Transplantation S. Fujita *, T. Fujikawa *, S. Mizuno , 1 1 T. Matsumoto , E. Shenkman B. Vogel , P. Lipori , A. W. Hemming D. Nelson , R. J. Howard , R. D. Kim A. I. Reed 1 1 2 , 2 1 1 , 1 , 3 1 1 Aim/Background: Liver transplantation may not be offered to some individuals at transplant programs because previous reports suggest that obese recipients have poorer outcomes. We assessed the influence of body mass index (BMI) on the outcome of liver transplantation in our liver transplant program. Material/Methods: Patients receiving a liver transplant between 1990 and 2005 were divided according to BMI: group 1, BMI 25 kg/m ; group 2, BMI ≥ 25 and 30; group 3, BMI ≥ 30 and 35; 2 and group 4, BMI ≥ 35. The impact of BMI on graft survival, pa- tient survival, postoperative complications, length of hospital stay, and overall costs were retrospectively investigated. Results: BMI ranged from 15-42 (mean=26.7). Distribution into the groups was as follows: group 1, n=288 (41.1%); group 2, n=246 (35.1%); group 3, n=129 (18.4%); and group 4, n=37 (5.3%). We could not detect an effect of BMI on patient or graft survival, the incidence of acute graft rejection, or postoperative complications including cardiovascular complications. BMI was not related to length of hospital stay. There were no statistical dif- ferences between the three groups with respect to overall hospital cost in a generalized linear model, corrected for age, gender, calcu- lated MELD score, re-transplant status, or return to the operating room. Conclusions: Obesity did not influence either the costs or the clin- ical outcome following liver transplantation in our patient popula- tion. Key words: obe