Comparison of Clinical Outcomes, Resource Utilization, and Injury Patterns between Hospitalized Obese and Non-Obese Pediatric Patients with Traumatic Injuries

Abstract

Background: Children within the US are experiencing very high rates of obesity. Currently almost 31.9% of children have BMI’s that exceed the 85th percentile and 16.3% of children are greater than the 95th percentile in BMI’s. There have been several studies which indicate that obese children receive differences in care both surgically and medically from their non-obese counterparts. Other literature suggests that obese adults require more resources and have worse outcomes after traumatic injuries than non-obese adults. Most studies fail to look at the differences that occur in children who have been admitted to a hospital due to a traumatic injury. Objectives: The goal of the study was to conduct a retrospective chart review/analysis of admitted pediatric trauma patients to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children looking for variations in complications, resources, and injury patterns that may exist between obese and non-obese patients.Methods: Records for all admitted trauma patients between January 1st 2003 and December 31st 2008 were obtained and analyzed for eligibility in the study. A total of 175 records were included in the study. Specific data regarding the patients were then input into Excel and SPSS for statistical analysis. Patients were placed into one of four separate BMI percentile categories. The data was then cross analyzed using SPSS to explore for variations among groups.Results: For all of the variables that were analyzed among BMI percentiles there were no statistical differences. All p-values were greater than 0.05. There were no differences with respects to outcomes, lengths of stay, resources such as labs and radiological exams, or injury patterns after statistical analysis among study groups. Marginal significance was observed in patient complications (p=0.07).Conclusions: The statistics in this study suggest no difference among the groups, however due to the small sample size and the wide variation in injury severity score (ISS) as well as injury type it is not possible to conclude indefinitely on the status of the aforementioned problem. The potentiality for there to be differences exists pending on the completion of a larger study with more patients and a narrower bracket of injury severity scores.%%%%M.P.H., Public Health – Drexel University, 2010