The Effect of Body Mass Index on the Functional Prognosis of Traumatic Brain Injury Patients

Abstract

Background Although many studies have demonstrated that obesity is correlated with an increased risk of chronic disease, some have reported a paradox by which those in the higher weight categories actually recover better during hospitalization. This study was designed to determine whether this obesity paradox is also reflected in the recovery of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) undergoing care in a rehabilitation hospital. Objective To investigate the association between body mass index (BMI) and the functional progress of patients with TBI, admitted to a rehabilitation hospital. Design Retrospective cohort study. Methods The study included all patients admitted to the brain injury unit of a rehabilitation hospital over a 6‐year period. The data used for this study included patient height and weight (measured on admission) and functional independence measurements (scored on admission and discharge). Main Outcome Measures Functional independence measure (FIM) change per day, BMI category. Results For the 444 patients admitted, the overall FIM efficiency did not differ significantly by BMI (P = .93). After adjusting for age and gender, overweight and obese patients had the lowest FIM efficiency (1.04 for both groups), followed by the underweight and normal weight groups (1.11 and 1.26, respectively). Conclusion This study demonstrated that higher BMI was not significantly correlated with the rate of functional recovery among patients admitted to a rehabilitation hospital for TBI. Level of Evidence III.

The effect of body mass index on functional outcome of patients with knee arthroplasty with and without hip abductor muscle strengthening: six months Follow-Up of a Randomized Pilot Study.

“…A conducted a study on The Effect of Body Mass Index on Functional Outcome of Patients With Knee Replacement the FIM scores at the time of discharge improved from 74-108 for normal weight individuals, for overweight 74-108, obese class 1 69-109, for obese class ii 68-108, for obese class iii 65-108. There is not much difference in scores between the groups (Burke et al, 2019a). The above values are correlating with the present study results.…”

“…A study conducted to compare the acute recovery during hospitalisation in both normal and obese patients affected with cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, traumatic brain injury, and in those hospitalized for amputation. Acute indings were marginally better but no statistical signi icant recovery was observed during hospitalization of overweight as compared to normal weight patients (Burke et al, 2014(Burke et al, , 2019a.…”

Correlation Between Hyperglycemia and Length of Stay in Severe Head Injury Patients at Prof. Dr. Igng Ngoerah Hospital

“…Based on previous research, BMI does not have a significant relationship with the type and severity of head injury or the prognosis or outcome of head injury. [16,17] In this study, BMI was also not associated with LOS from severe head injury patients.…”

The Effect of Body Mass Index on Functional Outcome of Patients With Knee Replacement

“…Data from postacute IRF studies have found similar results for patients with stroke, traumatic brain injury, amputation, and debility. 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 Acute findings of marginally better but not statistically significant recovery during hospitalization of overweight as compared to normal weight patients have been found in patients hospitalized for cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, traumatic brain injury, and in those hospitalized for amputation. 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 Therefore, our findings seem to follow a trend noted by others, that both short- and long-term outcomes of those who are overweight are not sufficiently different from the normal weight to trigger a resistance to treatment.…”