The obesity paradox in critically ill patients: a causal learning approach to a casual finding.

ABSTRACT:

Background

While obesity confers an increased risk of death in the general population, numerous studies have reported an association between obesity and improved survival among critically ill patients. This contrary finding has been referred to as the obesity paradox. In this retrospective study, two causal inference approaches were used to address whether the survival of non-obese critically ill patients would have been improved if they had been obese.

Methods

The study cohort comprised 6557 adult critically ill patients hospitalized at the Intensive Care Unit of the Ghent University Hospital between 2015 and 2017. Obesity was defined as a body mass index of ≥ 30 kg/m². Two causal inference approaches were used to estimate the average effect of obesity in the non

SUBMITTER: Decruyenaere A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7405433 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature