Perioperative complications in obese women vs normal-weight women who undergo vaginal surgery.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the incidence of perioperative complications in obese and normal-weight patients who undergo vaginal urogynecologic surgery.

Methods: A retrospective cohort analysis was conducted for obese patients (body mass index, > or = 30 kg/m2) who underwent vaginal surgery and who were matched with patients with normal body mass indices (> 18.5 kg/m2 but < 30 kg/m2) by surgical procedures. Demographic information, comorbidities, and perioperative (< or = 6 weeks) complications were documented. Logistic regression analysis was used to compare the incidence of perioperative complications and to adjust for baseline differences.

Results: Seven hundred forty-two patients underwent vaginal surgery during the study period; 235 women were considered to have obese body mass indices. We matched 194 of these patients with normal-weight control subjects. There was no statistical difference in the proportion of subjects who had at least 1 perioperative complication (20% [obese] vs 15% [nonobese]). However, obese subjects were more likely to have an operative site infection (adjusted odds ratio, 5.5; [95% CI, 1.7-24.7]; P = .01).

Conclusions: The overall perioperative complication rate in obese and nonobese women is low, with obesity as an independent risk factor for the development of operative site infections.