title: Obese patients have similar short-term outcomes to non-obese in laparoscopic colorectal surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether obese patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery within an enhanced recovery program had worse short-term outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective study of consecutive patients undergoing laparoscopic colorectal resection was carried out between 2008 and 2011 in a single institution. Patients were divided in groups based on body mass index (BMI). Short-term outcomes including operative data, length of stay, complications and readmission rates were recorded and compared between the groups. Continuous data were analysed using t-test or one-way Analysis of Variance. χ(2) test was used to compare categorical data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two hundred and fifty four patients were included over the study period. The majority of individuals (41.7%) recruited were of a healthy weight (BMI < 25), whilst 50 patients were classified as obese (19.6%). Patients were matched in terms of the presence of co-morbidities and previous abdominal surgery. Obese patients were found to have a statistically significant difference in The American Society of Anesthesiologists grade. Length of surgery and intra-operative blood loss were no different according to BMI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Obesity (BMI > 25) does not lead to worse short-term outcomes in laparoscopic colorectal surgery and therefore such patients should not be precluded from laparoscopic surgery.
authors.affiliation: Manish Chand, Henry D De'Ath, Muhammed Siddiqui, Chetanya Mehta, Shahnawaz Rasheed, James Bromilow, Tahseen Qureshi, Department of Surgery, Poole General Hospital, Poole BH15 2JB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Manish
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chand
authors.affiliation: Manish Chand, Henry D De'Ath, Muhammed Siddiqui, Chetanya Mehta, Shahnawaz Rasheed, James Bromilow, Tahseen Qureshi, Department of Surgery, Poole General Hospital, Poole BH15 2JB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Henry D
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: De'Ath
authors.affiliation: Manish Chand, Henry D De'Ath, Muhammed Siddiqui, Chetanya Mehta, Shahnawaz Rasheed, James Bromilow, Tahseen Qureshi, Department of Surgery, Poole General Hospital, Poole BH15 2JB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Muhammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Siddiqui
authors.affiliation: Manish Chand, Henry D De'Ath, Muhammed Siddiqui, Chetanya Mehta, Shahnawaz Rasheed, James Bromilow, Tahseen Qureshi, Department of Surgery, Poole General Hospital, Poole BH15 2JB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Chetanya
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mehta
authors.affiliation: Manish Chand, Henry D De'Ath, Muhammed Siddiqui, Chetanya Mehta, Shahnawaz Rasheed, James Bromilow, Tahseen Qureshi, Department of Surgery, Poole General Hospital, Poole BH15 2JB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Shahnawaz
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rasheed
authors.affiliation: Manish Chand, Henry D De'Ath, Muhammed Siddiqui, Chetanya Mehta, Shahnawaz Rasheed, James Bromilow, Tahseen Qureshi, Department of Surgery, Poole General Hospital, Poole BH15 2JB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bromilow
authors.affiliation: Manish Chand, Henry D De'Ath, Muhammed Siddiqui, Chetanya Mehta, Shahnawaz Rasheed, James Bromilow, Tahseen Qureshi, Department of Surgery, Poole General Hospital, Poole BH15 2JB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Tahseen
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Qureshi
keywords: Colorectal cancer; Laparoscopic surgery; Obese: body mass index; Outcomes