OBESITY A BUMMER FOR RUPTURED DISCS (Orthopedics This Week)
Obese patients are more likely to have surgical treatment for a slipped or ruptured disc (lumbar disc herniation) than are individuals who are not obese. Moreover, obesity increases operative time, blood loss and length of hospital stay, according to research published in the January 2013 Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. Overall, obese patients had poorer outcomes with surgical and nonsurgical treatments for lumbar disc herniation than did non-obese patients.
The study, conducted at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and The Rothman Institute, included 854 non-obese patients with a body mass index (BMI) of less than 30 kg/m² and 336 obese patients with a BMI greater than 30 kg/m². Doctors enrolled all in the Spine Patient Outcomes Research Trial (SPORT) for the treatment of lumbar disc herniation. Researchers compiled patient demographic and clinical characteristics at baseline, and then compared that information with data compiled during regular follow-up visits for four years.
At four years, improvements in function were less for the obese patients—in both the surgical and nonsurgical groups—as measured by the Oswest...
