Impact of obesity on outcomes of hysterectomy

To evaluate the impact of obesity on complications of hysterectomy.

Retrospective cohort study (Canadian Task Force II-2).

The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Women and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, Providence, RI.

Patients who had a hysterectomy at WIH between July 2006 and January 2009.

Hysterectomy by any mode.

We collected data from medical records of all laparoscopic hysterectomies during the time period and collected data from a random subset of abdominal and vaginal hysterectomies. The independent variable, body mass index, was grouped according to World Health Organization guidelines. A composite of surgical complications was generated. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). We collected data from 907 hysterectomies, and 29.9% (n = 267) of the population was obese. Eighteen percent of patients (n = 154) had at least 1 complication. Compared to non-obese women, obese women were at increased odds of having any complication (OR 1.62, 95% CI 1.12-2-34). Performing subgroup analyses by mode of hysterectomy and controlling for confounding factors, we were unable to detect differences odds of complications between obese and non-obese women who underwent either an abdominal, vaginal, or laparoscopic hysterectomy.

In our study, we found that among women who had a hysterectomy, obese women had a higher rate of complications than nonobese women.