BMI Does Not Impact the Outcomes of Venous Ablation Procedures for Superficial Venous Insufficiency

Both obesity and venous insufficiency are included in the broad differential diagnosis of leg edema. Generally, obesity is considered a relative contraindication for superficial venous procedures. This study aims to investigate the impact of body mass index (BMI) on the improvement of patient reported outcomes score (PROs) and venous clinical severity score (VCSS) in patients undergoing either thermal or laser endovenous ablation (EVA) for great saphenous vein (GSV). A retrospective review of Varicose Vein Vascular Quality Initiative (VV-VQI) registry from 2014 to 2021 was performed. All patients undergoing EVA for GSV in calf, thigh, or both were included. Patients were grouped into four body mass index (BMI) categories (ie, underweight, normal BMI, overweight, and obese) based on Quetlet's Index. The analysis was based on preprocedural and postprocedural comparisons of the PROs and VCSS. These scores were studied as quantitative variables and tested using Kruskal-Wallis test among the study groups. A total of 10,158 patients met the inclusion criteria for the study. The mean age was 55.95 ± 13.9 years, of which 2648 patients (26.1%) were underweight, 3161 (31.1%) were of normal BMI, 3334 (32.8%) were overweight, and 1015 (10%) were overweight. In comparison with females, males were more likely to be in the overweight (37.4% vs 30.6%) and obese (11.6% vs 9.2%) categories. By race, White patients had relatively higher proportion of underweight patients, whereas Black patients were more like to be obese, and Hispanic patients were more likely to have normal BMI. A mean improvement PRO score of 8.88 ± 8.10 was observed in the included sample with no significant difference among the study groups (P = .943). For the VCSS, an improvement of 4.33 ± 4.09 was found, with no significant association based on BMI categories (P = .459). A higher BMI does not influence the mean improvement in the PROs or VCSS after venous ablation procedures. Further investigation is required to study the link between objective metric systems of studying varicose veins and BMI.