Influence of abdominal obesity on multiorgan dysfunction and mortality in acute respiratory distress syndrome patients treated with prone positioning.

Purpose: Obesity is a worldwide pandemic, and obese patients face an increased risk of developing acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Prone positioning (PP) is a frequently used intervention in the treatment of ARDS. There are no data describing the impact of PP on morbidity and mortality in abdominally obese patients.

Abdominal obesity and prolonged prone positioning increase risk of developing sclerosing cholangitis in critically ill patients with influenza A-associated ARDS.

Background: Secondary sclerosing cholangitis is a severe disease of the biliary tract. Over the last decade, several cases of sclerosing cholangitis in critically ill patients (SC-CIP) were reported. Reports in the literature so far are characterized by a wide variety of underlying causes of critical illness, thereby hindering a risk-factor analysis.