Obese people are more likely to develop infected wounds and renal failure after heart surgery, new research shows.
A study by Victorian specialists has found that patients having coronary artery bypass grafting or heart valve surgery are 40 per cent more likely to be obese compared to the general Australian population.
Extra weight in obese patients was linked to wound infection, renal failure and other complications following the operation, according to a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
It was less common to be extremely overweight, but these patients had even further problems.
"Morbid obesity was associated with prolonged ventilation, re-admission to the intensive care unit and prolonged length of stay," said cardiothoracic surgery registrar Dr Cheng-Hon Yap.
Despite these grim statistics, the researchers
found these patients were no more at risk of dying after their operation
than slimmer people.
