The effect of obesity on cost of total laparoscopic hysterectomy

To test for the association between increasing patient body mass index (BMI) and the cost of total laparoscopic hysterectomy (TLH). Secondary outcomes include the relationship between increasing BMI and both peri- and post-operative morbidity.

Retrospective cohort study of patients (N = 510) who underwent TLH between January 2017 and December 2018 at a single public tertiary teaching hospital.

Morbid obesity (n = 63) was associated with significantly higher total admission costs ($19 654 vs $17 475 Australian dollars, P = 0.002), operative costs ($9447 vs $8630, P = 0.017) and total costs including readmissions ($20 476 vs $18 399, P = 0.016) when compared to patients with normal BMI (n = 103) and adjusting for age, indication for surgery, additional procedures and conversion to total abdominal hysterectomy. Costs for overweight (n = 134) and obese (n = 210) BMI groups did not differ from costs for the normal BMI group. Increased operative costs observed in the morbidly obese group, were largely driven by the time associated with set-up, transfer and anaesthetic time while surgical and recovery times were not statistically significant.

The total cost of TLH is increased in the morbidly obese category of patients. The operative costs appear to be related to pre-operative measures such as theatre set-up and anaesthetic requirements. TLH in the obese and morbidly obese category group is not associated with increased intra-operative or post-operative complications. There may be a role for exploring improvements in managing morbidly obese patients in the pre-operative setting.