Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Prevalence and Documentation Rates of Obesity in Hospitalized Patients: Results of a Retrospective Cohort Study

Mohammad A. Hossain
ORCID logo ,
Ami Amin
,
Anju Paul
,
Huzaif Qaisar
,
Monika Akula
,
Alireza Amirpour
,
Shreya Gor
,
Sofi Giglio
,
Jennifer Cheng
,
Roy Mathew
,
Tushar Vachharajani
,
Mohamed Bakr
,
Arif Asif
*
Version 1 : Received: 6 July 2018 / Approved: 9 July 2018 / Online: 9 July 2018 (13:17:30 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Hossain, M.A.; Amin, A.; Paul, A.; Qaisar, H.; Akula, M.; Amirpour, A.; Gor, S.; Giglio, S.; Cheng, J.; Mathew, R.; Vachharajani, T.; Bakr, M.; Asif, A. Recognizing Obesity in Adult Hospitalized Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study Assessing Rates of Documentation and Prevalence of Obesity. J. Clin. Med. 2018, 7, 203. Hossain, M.A.; Amin, A.; Paul, A.; Qaisar, H.; Akula, M.; Amirpour, A.; Gor, S.; Giglio, S.; Cheng, J.; Mathew, R.; Vachharajani, T.; Bakr, M.; Asif, A. Recognizing Obesity in Adult Hospitalized Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study Assessing Rates of Documentation and Prevalence of Obesity. J. Clin. Med. 2018, 7, 203.

Abstract

While obesity is a serious chronic condition, its prevalence and documentation as a diagnosis has not been extensively studied in hospitalized patients. We conducted a retrospective chart review to investigate the prevalence and documentation of obesity as a diagnosis among patients admitted to our medical center. IRB approval was obtained for this retrospective study. Body mass index as per CDC, admission and discharge diagnosis of obesity and common comorbidities including hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia and others, were recorded. Length of hospital stay was calculated. We also investigated whether counselling for weight loss was provided to obese patients. A total of 540 consecutive patients with mean age of 66 ± 6 years, were investigated, of which 182(34%) had normal weight, 188(35%) patients were overweight and 170(31%) patients were obese. Obese group included 55% female and 45% male. 100 (59%) had class I obesity, 43(25%) had class II obesity and 27(16%) class III obesity. Of the obese patients 40/170(23.5%) patients had obesity documented on the admission problem list and only 21(12%) had obesity documented as a discharge diagnosis. Only 3(2%) patients received appropriate counseling and referral for obesity management during the hospitalization. Comorbidities included hypertension (68%), diabetes (35%), hyperlipidemia (36%), coronary artery disease (18%), chronic kidney disease (17%), congestive heart failure (18%) and COPD (24%). The average length of stay in normal weight, overweight and obese patients was similar (4.5 ± 0.5 days). An overwhelming percentage never had weight status documented despite significant prevalence of obesity. Hospitalization offers health care providers a window of opportunity to identify obesity, communicate risks and initiate weight management interventions.

Keywords

obesity; documentation; comorbidities

Subject

Medicine and Pharmacology, Pathology and Pathobiology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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