Obesity as a Risk Factor in Cosmetic Abdominal Body Contouring: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: The incidence of obesity is on the rise around the globe. Outside of the massive weight loss (MWL) patient population, knowledge of risk factors associated with abdominal body contouring (BC) is limited. This systematic review and meta-analysis assesses the impact of obesity has on cosmetic abdominal BC outcomes.

Methods: A systematic review conducted in accordance with PRISMA 2020 was done. PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and COCHRANE databases were reviewed under search syntax "obesity," "abdominoplasty," "panniculectomy," and "body contouring" for articles. Cosmetic was defined as abdominoplasty or panniculectomy outside the context of MWL. Obesity was defined as BMI ≥ 30 kg/m. Studies reporting postoperative outcomes with less than 50% of their population involving MWL patients were included. Postoperative outcomes were assessed by pooled analysis and meta-analysis.

Results: Of 3088 initial studies, 16 met inclusion criteria, and nine were used for pooled and meta-analysis. Meta-analysis demonstrated that obesity was associated with more seromas (OR 1.45, 1.06-1.98, p = 0.02), hematomas (OR 2.21, 1.07-4.57, p = 0.03), and total surgical site occurrences (OR 1.99, 1.30-3.04, p = 0.0016). There was no significant difference in odds of any other complications. Analysis by obesity class showed no significant increase in odds in seromas or wound dehiscence.

Conclusions: This review demonstrates obesity increased odds of postoperative complications following cosmetic abdominal BC. However, risk of complications does not continue to increase with higher obesity class. A BMI ≥ 30 kg/m should not be a strict contraindication to cosmetic abdominal BC. Instead, plastic surgeons should evaluate patients on a case-by-case basis.

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