Outcomes: Heavy People May Beat Critical Illness More Often
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By ERIC NAGOURNEY
Published: May 9, 2006
Obesity is not generally associated with any good medical outcomes, but a recent study suggests that some people who are very overweight may be more likely to survive a critical illness than people who are in better shape.
Writing in Critical Care Medicine, the researchers report what happened when they looked at the body mass indexes of more than 1,000 intensive care unit patients and then looked at how well the patients ended up doing.
"Lower B.M.I.'s were associated with higher odds of death, whereas overweight and obese B.M.I.'s were associated with lower odds," the researchers wrote.
The study was led by Dr. James M. O'Brien Jr. of the Ohio State University Medical Center.
In all, the study looked at 1,488 patients being treated for acute lung ailments at 84 hospitals over a period of almost six years. All the patients were on ventilators.
Why being overweight is associated with higher survival rates is unclear. Obese patients were more likely to get medication to reduce the risk of blood clots, and that could have played a role in helping them get better, the researchers said.
And while the thinnest patients were most likely to die, the study found, their low weight might have been a sign not of health but of disease, the researchers said.
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