title: Obesity status and use of general surgery resources.
abstract: Obesity is a rapidly growing epidemic. This study assesses the impact of obesity on surgeon workload for general surgical services. A retrospective study of patients undergoing cholecystectomy, unilateral mastectomy, and colectomy between January 2000 and December 2003 was undertaken. Obesity was defined as body mass index > or = 30. The proportion of obese patients was compared to the 2002 BRFSS obesity prevalence data for Alabama. Data were adjusted to control for potential confounders. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. A total of 1,385 patients were included in analysis. The prevalence of obesity in the study population was 35.5 per cent compared to the statewide prevalence of 25.2 per cent (OR = 1.73, 95% CI = 1.51, 1.98). These data were stratified by procedure, age, and gender. The cholecystectomy group had a significantly higher proportion of obese for all age groups and female gender. The mastectomy group had a higher proportion of obese in the 45-64 age group. The stratified colectomy group did not reach statistical significance. There was no evidence of referral bias to explain these findings. This study demonstrates there is a greater use of general surgery services, particularly cholecystectomy and mastectomy, in obese patients than predicted by the prevalence of obesity in the population.
authors.affiliation: Section of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 35294, USA.
authors.forename: Kelly R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Finan
authors.forename: Ruth R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Leeth
authors.forename: Gilbert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ritchie
authors.forename: Selwyn M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Vickers
authors.forename: Mary T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Hawn
mesh_terms: D002763:Cholecystectomy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003082:Colectomy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008408:Mastectomy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index