Safety and Efficacy of Moderate Sedation in Super Obese Patients Undergoing Lower and Upper GI Endoscopy: a...

Obesity is a disease of increasing prevalence. There is minimal research on the safety of sedation for general endoscopic procedures among super obese patients (BMI ≥ 50). The aim of our study was to evaluate the safety of moderate sedation and endoscopic procedural outcomes for super obese patients in a case-control study.

We completed an age and sex-matched case-control study comparing 132 super obese patients with 132 non-obese controls. We assessed intra-procedure adverse events, delayed adverse events, doses of sedation medication used, and procedure duration at a tertiary care setting.

The mean BMI for the obese cohort was 55.6 compared with 22.5 for the controls (P < 0.001). The mean intra-procedure fentanyl and midazolam dose was higher for the obese patients compared with the controls, fentanyl 180 mcg, midazolam 7.7 mg vs fentanyl 148 mcg, midazolam 6.4 mg, respectively (P < 0.001). There was a significantly higher percentage of brief intra-procedure hypoxia (oxygen blood saturation < 90%) for the obese patients compared with the controls, 5% vs 0% (P = 0.02). There was no difference in delayed adverse events with 2% of the cases and 2% of the controls having delayed adverse events (P = 1.0). Procedure completion rates were 100% for both cases and controls.

General endoscopic procedures can be safely and effectively performed in super obese patients with moderate sedation. Brief intra-procedure hypoxia more commonly occurs in super obese patients, and higher medication doses are required.