Prevalence and risk factors for obesity after liver transplantation: a single-center experience

The study of weight gain after transplantation and its associated factors is necessary to propose strategies to prevent and treat this problem.

This study aims to investigate factors affecting the development of obesity after liver transplantation (LTx).

Medical records of 343 liver transplantation cases, which were followed between January 2001 and January 2010 at Dokuz Eylul University, were retrospectively analyzed. Patient pre-liver transplantation height, body weight, body mass index (BMI) measurements, as well as changes in body weight at the beginning, 6 months, 12 months, and 5 years post-transplantation were observed. BMI measurements with records of immunosuppressive therapies were obtained.

The study was carried out with the records of 226 patients. 151 patients (66.8%) were male; 75 (33.2%) were female. The mean age was 46.19 ± 10.2 years. 123 of these liver transplants were performed from living donors, while 103 were from cadaveric donors. The causes of liver transplantation were hepatitis D virus (HDV) infection (28%), hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (24%), hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection (24%), alcoholic liver disease (9%), cryptogenic liver disease (9%), autoimmune hepatitis (4%), and other (2%). In this study, the prevalence of obesity was 21% at the end of the second year, decreasing to 14% by the end of the fifth year. The mean BMI gradually increased during the follow-ups, reaching 25.1 kg/m² and 26 kg/m² six months after liver transplantation and at the end of the first year, respectively (P < 0.002). Obesity developed in 18.2% of post-transplant patients who were receiving a calcineurin inhibitor (CNI). Regarding the development of obesity after transplantation, no statistically significant difference was found between patients using cyclosporine (CsA) and tacrolimus (TAC) (P = 0.07). Six months after liver transplantation, the mean body weight gain in the groups receiving steroids and not receiving steroids were 4.71 kg and 2.7 kg, respectively (P = 0.03). In the post-transplant period, there was no significant difference in patients who had received TAC and CsA for development of diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension (HT), or hyperlipidemia (HL) (P = 0.30).

Obesity prevalence before and after liver transplantation was comparable. Education of obese patients prior to surgery and recommendation of medical nutrition therapy should be appropriate. Similar medical care for the non-obese subjects could prevent increase in obesity prevalence. Non-corticosteroid immunosuppressive agents had no significant effect on the development of weight gain and obesity. Avoiding the use of long-term steroid therapy and obesity education are the key measures for preventing obesity after liver transplantation.