The Effect of Body Mass Index on the Functional Prognosis of Traumatic Brain Injury Patients

David T. Burke*, Regina B. Bell, Samir Al-Adawi, Daniel P. Burke

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: Although many studies have demonstrated that obesity is correlated with an increased risk of chronic disease, some have reported a paradox by which those in the higher weight categories actually recover better during hospitalization. This study was designed to determine whether this obesity paradox is also reflected in the recovery of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) undergoing care in a rehabilitation hospital. Objective: To investigate the association between body mass index (BMI) and the functional progress of patients with TBI, admitted to a rehabilitation hospital. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Methods: The study included all patients admitted to the brain injury unit of a rehabilitation hospital over a 6-year period. The data used for this study included patient height and weight (measured on admission) and functional independence measurements (scored on admission and discharge). Main Outcome Measures: Functional independence measure (FIM) change per day, BMI category. Results: For the 444 patients admitted, the overall FIM efficiency did not differ significantly by BMI (P =.93). After adjusting for age and gender, overweight and obese patients had the lowest FIM efficiency (1.04 for both groups), followed by the underweight and normal weight groups (1.11 and 1.26, respectively). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that higher BMI was not significantly correlated with the rate of functional recovery among patients admitted to a rehabilitation hospital for TBI. Level of Evidence: III.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1045-1049
Number of pages5
JournalPM and R
Volume11
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 1 2019

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation
  • Rehabilitation
  • Neurology
  • Clinical Neurology

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