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Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
09:36

Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study

Published on: February 2, 2017

Obesity is not associated with increased mortality and morbidity in critically ill children

Vi Lier Goh1, Martin K Wakeham, Ruta Brazauskas

  • 1Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53226, USA.

JPEN. Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition
|March 30, 2012
PubMed

Insights

Critically ill children who are overweight or obese and require mechanical ventilation do not have increased mortality or longer hospital stays. Obesity does not appear to negatively impact outcomes for these pediatric patients.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric critical care medicine
  • Pediatric intensive care
  • Obesity research

Background:

  • Childhood obesity is a growing concern with potential health implications.
  • The impact of obesity on outcomes for critically ill children requiring mechanical ventilation is not well-established.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between obesity and outcomes in critically ill children requiring invasive mechanical ventilation.
  • To compare mortality, duration of mechanical ventilation, and length of stay (LOS) in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) among children with varying weight categories.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective cohort study of 1030 children (2-18 years) admitted to a PICU requiring invasive ventilation between 2005-2009.
  • Patients categorized by weight z-score: normal, overweight, obese, and severely obese. Underweight patients excluded.
  • Outcomes analyzed: mortality, ventilator days, and PICU LOS using univariate and multivariate regression analyses.

Main Results:

  • No significant difference in risk-adjusted mortality rates between normal-weight, overweight, obese, and severely obese children.
  • Total mechanical ventilation days and PICU length of stay were similar across all weight categories after adjusting for risk factors.

Conclusions:

  • Overweight, obese, and severely obese children requiring invasive mechanical ventilation in the PICU experience similar mortality and resource utilization compared to normal-weight children.
  • Obesity status does not appear to be an independent risk factor for adverse outcomes in this critically ill pediatric population.
Abstract

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