Infl uence of Obesity on the Severity and Clinical Outcome of Acute

Background/Aims: Obesity tends to be associated with increased mortality and morbidity in acute pancreatitis. How-ever, in Asian populations, higher morbidity and mortality have been reported in patients with low body mass indexes (BMIs). This study was undertaken to evaluate the relation between obesity and outcome, and to investigate the occur-rence of complications by overweightedness in acute pan-creatitis. Methods: The medical records of 403 patients with acute pancreatitis were reviewed retrospectively, and Ran-son’s scores, modifi ed Glasgow scores, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II scores and computed tomography severity indexes were calculated. Patients were categorized by BMI for the analysis. Results: When com-pared with normal patients (BMI 18.5 to 22.9), all categories with a BMI ≥23 had an increased risk of developing a severe form of acute pancreatitis (p=0.003) and all categories with a BMI ≥25 signifi cantly predicted severity (p<0.001). Patients with class 1 obesity (BMI 25 to 29.9) developed signifi cantly more systemic and metabolic complications. Conclusions: Overweightedness and obesity were found to be associated with a higher risk of developing severe pancreatitis. Further studies are needed to establish the precise prognostic value of obesity in members of the population with low BMIs. (Gu