Tempo de permanência hospitalar em pacientes cirúrgicos obesos e não obesos submetidos à colecistectomia eletiva em um hospital de ensino

Abstract

Background: The study aims to determine the length of hospital stay in obese and not obese patients submitted to elective open cholecystectomy in an Universitary hospital in the South of Brazil. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in patients submitted to open cholecystectomy in University Hospital São Francisco de Paula (HUSFP), during the year of 2008. The outcome studied was the length of hospital stay. The main exposition was obesity, and the independent variables were associated or not obesity associated comorbidities and the presence of postoperative complications, gender, economic class, marital status and skin color. Results: The sample was 209 patients, almost 80% of them were women and the varied from 16 to 83 years. Approximately one third of patients had some prior disease related to obesity (36.4%). There was a significant association between obesity and hypertension, type II diabetes and heart disease. Obesity does not determine a higher morbidity during hospital stay. Conclusions: The analysis results obtained in the study did not confirm the hypothesis that obesity is a factor that increases the length of hospital stay for obese elective surgical patients. Even though, it was confirmed the association between the presences of comorbidities associated with obesity in this group of patients, in agreement to the literature. In conclusion, obese patients, even in the presence of comorbidities, didn t have a higher length of hospital stay when a judicious preoperative clinical evaluation is performed before elective surgery