Body Mass Index Category and Adverse Events in Hospitalized Children

Area of Science:

• Pediatric patient safety
• Clinical outcomes research
• Body Mass Index (BMI) and health

Background:

• Adverse events (AEs) in pediatric populations can impact patient outcomes.
• Understanding the relationship between body mass index (BMI) categories and AEs is crucial for targeted interventions.
• Previous research has not definitively established a link between BMI and AE rates, severity, or preventability in children.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between patient body mass index (BMI) category and adverse event (AE) rate, severity, and preventability.
• To analyze AE data in a cohort of children discharged from an academic children's hospital.
• To identify potential risk factors related to BMI in pediatric patient safety.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective cohort study of 680 pediatric patients (ages 2-17) discharged between June and October 2018.
• Patients categorized into underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obesity based on BMI.
• Adverse events identified using the Global Assessment of Pediatrics Patient Safety trigger tool and scored for harm and preventability.

Main Results:

• A total of 270 AEs were recorded across 834 encounters.
• No significant association was found between BMI category and the overall rate of AEs (P = .46).
• No associations were observed between BMI category and AE severity; initial analysis suggested increased preventable AEs in obesity, but this did not persist in multivariable modeling.

Conclusions:

• This single-center study did not establish a clear association between BMI category and the rate, severity, or preventability of AEs in pediatric patients.
• Further research with larger, diverse cohorts may be needed to explore subtle relationships.
• Current findings suggest that BMI category alone may not be a primary predictor of AEs in this pediatric population.