Effects of Obesity on Mortality and Morbidity in High-Risk Open Heart Surgery Patients

Background: The results of studies on the effect of obesity on mortality and morbidity in cardiac surgery are limited and contradictory. Today, the population of patients referred for open heart surgery is changing, and high-risk patients now represent a significant proportion of surgical candidates. In this study, the effect of obesity on mortality and morbidity in high risk patients in cardiac surgery was investigated retrospectively. Methods: This study was carried out by retrospectively evaluating the data of patients who had undergone adult Open Heart Surgery (OHS) in a university hospital operating room in the last 5 years (2015-2020). A total of 924 patients were examined in the study. The current online version of EuroSCORE (www.euroscore.org) was used and was calculated separately for all patients. The information in the hospital data system, preoperative evaluation forms, anesthesia follow-up slips, perfusion cards and intensive care, nurse follow-up forms of the patients (n = 95) calculated as EuroSCORE ≥ 6 were examined. The patients were divided into two groups as obese (body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30kg / m²) and non-obese (BMI <30kg / m²). Results: In the preoperative data, patients with diabetes mellitus in the obese group were statistically higher than the non-obese group (p=0.018). Mortality rate did not differ according to the groups (p> 0.05). Conclusion: In this study, no additional negative risk of obesity, which is considered to be an important risk factor for heart diseases, on cardiac surgery was determined.