Association of body mass index with postoperative pulmonary complications and potential explanatory pathways in paediatric scoliosis correction surgery: a multicentre cohort study.
Higher preoperative BMI was associated with lower odds of postoperative pulmonary complications after paediatric scoliosis correction surgery.
Association of body mass index with postoperative pulmonary complications and potential explanatory pathways in paediatric scoliosis correction surgery: a multicentre cohort study.
Postoperative pulmonary complications (postoperative pulmonary complications) contribute substantially to morbidity after paediatric scoliosis correction surgery, but the relationship between preoperative body mass index (BMI) and postoperative pulmonary complications remains uncertain.
This retrospective cohort study included 1,165 patients from three Chinese tertiary hospitals.
each extra BMI unit meant about 13% lower odds of pulmonary complications
Postoperative pulmonary complications occurred in 321 patients (27.55%).
A secondary exploratory perioperative-adjusted model yielded a similar estimate (aOR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.81-0.89; p < 0.001).
Compared with normal weight, thinness was associated with higher odds of postoperative pulmonary complications (aOR, 4.26; 95% CI, 2.74-6.67; p < 0.001), whereas overweight was associated with lower odds (aOR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.34-0.91; p = 0.022).
Higher preoperative BMI was associated with lower odds of postoperative pulmonary complications, with a concordant inverse causal-forest estimate under its identification assumptions.
Low BMI or thinness may serve as a preoperative risk marker, while the examined pathways accounted for only small proportions of the association.
At the end-of-surgery prediction time point, adding BMI provided modest incremental predictive value, although the model's external performance was modest and further prospective validation is required.