Original Article Does Overweight Affect Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Gastrectomy for Cancer? A Meta-analysis of 25 Cohort Studies

Objective: Overweight was regarded as one of the risk factors for poor outcome after gastrec-tomy, but its influence on the surgical and postoperative outcomes of gastrectomy was unclear. Methods: Comprehensive searches were conducted to include cohort studies which evaluated the influence of overweight on the surgical and postoperative outcomes of gastrectomy. Data was analyzed by RevMan 5.0. Results: Twenty-five cohort studies (18 518 patients) were included. Overweight patients were associated with longer operation time (mean difference 20.88, 95 % confidence interval 14.07, 27.69), more intraoperative blood loss (mean difference 35.45, 95 % confidence interval 9.24, 61.67), and less retrieved lymph nodes (mean difference 22.17, 95 % confidence interval 23.51, 20.83) than normal patients undergoing laparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy. And over-weight patients were associated with longer operation time (mean difference 26.31, 95 % confi-dence interval 21.92, 30.70), more intraoperative blood loss (mean difference 130.02, 95% confidence interval 75.49, 184.55), less retrieved lymph nodes (mean difference 23.18, 95% confidence interval 24.74, 21.61), longer postoperative hospital stay (mean difference 2.37, 95 % confidence interval 0.03, 4.70) and more postoperative complications (risk ratio 1.53, 95