Sept. 21, 2004 -- Add another item to the list of health concerns stemming f
Sept. 21, 2004 -- Add another item to the list of health concerns stemming from obesity. Obese trauma patients are more likely to die from their injuries and suffer multiple organ failure than those who are not obese, according to California researchers.
The finding comes from a study of 242 trauma patients at Los Angeles County and University of Southern California Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Angela Neville, MD, and colleagues noted the patients' body mass index (or BMI -- an indirect measure of body fat) and followed their post-trauma health records. A BMI of 30 or more is considered obese.
Almost 19% of the general U.S. adult population is obese. In this study, 26% of patients were obese.
All the patients were treated for blunt trauma during 2002. Most had been injured in vehicle or motorcycle wrecks, as pedestrians hit by cars, or as victims of assault.
Obesity and Mortality
The obese patients had a twofold higher death rate than nonobese patients, 32% vs. 16%.
"Obesity, as an independent risk factor, carries a nearly sixfold increase in mortality rate," write the researchers in the September issue of the journal Archives of Surgery.
In addition, obese patients had higher rates of multiple organ failure than nonobese patients. Multiple organ failure as the cause of death was twice as frequent in the obese group (35%) compared with the nonobese group (17%).
Similar Patterns
In other respects, the obese and nonobese patients had much in common.
People in both groups usually died of brain injuries or multiple organ failure. They also had "similar demographics, mechanisms of injury, and injury patterns," write the researchers.
No one knows exactly why more obese patients died and/or had multiple organ failure.
Neville's team speculates that obesity may trigger a different inflammatory response to severe trauma, but they acknowledge they just don't have specific answers yet.
However, obesity's general health risks are clear.
"It is well established that obesity predisposes patients to multiple medical conditions," write the researchers.
For instance, coronary artery disease, systemic hypertension [high blood pressure], and heart failure are linked to obesity.
Obesity can also make it tougher to breathe by reducing lung volume. Surgery is more difficult and medical imaging is less reliable on obese patients, say the researchers.
Another study on obesity and trauma is being designed at the Los Angeles County and University of Southern California Medical Center.
