Effect of Obesity on Perioperative Complications, Hospital Costs, and Length of Stay in Patients With Open Ankle Fractures.

Introduction: The objective of this study was to examine the effect of obesity on perioperative complications and the cost of surgical management of open ankle fractures.

Methods: This study examined data from the National Inpatient Sample. The primary outcome variables assessed were occurrence of any complication, complication subtype, length of stay, and total hospital costs.

Results: Patients with obesity accounted for 10.1% (n = 8.972) of the total cohort. After adjusting for patient and hospital characteristics, patients with obesity exhibited higher odds of any complication, as well as longer length of stay and higher total costs.

Conclusion: As our understanding of the association between complications and cost of managing open ankle fractures in patients with obesity improves, future research should strive to improve patient outcomes and decrease cost of care through efforts made to prevent complications in patients with obesity.