Perioperative rates of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in normal weight vs obese and morbidly obese surgical patients in the era post venous thromboembolism prophylaxis guidelines.

BACKGROUND: The increasing prevalence of obesity translates into a greater number of obese patients undergoing general surgery procedures. We questioned if increased awareness and recent prophylaxis guidelines impacted the incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in the obese patients.
METHODS: A total of 33,325 patients who underwent 4 common general surgery procedures from 2005 to 2009 were identified from the American College of Surgeons' National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database. Rates of VTE between 5 body mass index cohorts were compared with univariable analysis.
RESULTS: No significant difference existed between rates of deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism (PE) across the body mass index categories (P = .32 and P = .06, respectively). With the exception of the positive linear trend in the rate of PE for patients undergoing abdominal wall hernia repair (P < .01), there was no difference in deep vein thrombosis or PE rate exhibited by procedure.
CONCLUSION: VTE rates in the obese patients are similar to that of the general population with the exception of PE in those undergoing abdominal wall hernia repair.