Journal of Public Health Advance Access published online on February 27, 2008
Journal of Public Health, doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdn011
Relationship between body mass index and length of hospital stay for gallbladder disease
Bette Liu, Epidemiologist
Angela Balkwill, Statistical Programmer
Elizabeth Spencer, Nutritional Epidemiologist
Valerie Beral, Professor of Epidemiology on behalf of the Million Women Study Collaborators
CRUK Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, Richard Doll Building, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford OX3 7LF, UK
Address correspondence to Bette Liu, E-mail: bette.liu{at}ceu.ox.ac.uk
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Abstract |
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Background Obesity increases the risk of hospital admission for gallbladder disease but its impact on the length of hospital stay is largely unknown.
Methods Prospective population-based study of 1.3 million women aged 56 years on average, recruited from 1996 to 2001 in England and Scotland and followed-up through NHS hospital admission record databases for gallbladder disease (cholelithiasis, cholecystitis, cholecystectomy) over a total of 7.8 million person-years.
Results During follow-up, 24 953 women were admitted with gallbladder disease, 87% who had a cholecystectomy. After adjusting for age, socioeconomic status and other factors, women with higher BMI at recruitment to the study were more likely to be admitted and spend more days in hospital. For 1000 person-years of follow-up, women in BMI categories of 18.5–24.9, 25–29.9, 30–39.9, 40+ kg/m2 spent, respectively, 16.5[16.0–17.0], 28.6[28.3–28.8], 44.0[43.4–44.5] and 49.4[45.7–53.0] days in hospital for gallbladder disease.
Conclusion On the basis of these estimates, over a quarter of all the days in hospital for gallbladder disease in middle-aged women can be attributed to obesity.
Keywords: body mass index, cholecystectomy, gallbladder diseases, ‘length of stay’, obesity