Ma Y, et al. - Researchers conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the effect of body mass index (BMI) on survival condition and neurological prognosis in patients with different body mass index (BMI) after cardiac arrest (CA). They noted lower survival rate in association with low BMI in CA patients. Overweight was identified to be associated with a higher survival rate and better neurological recovery. Obese and normal-weight patients did not differ regarding clinical outcomes.

Methods

• Pubmed, Embase, Ovid/Medline and EBM reviews databases were searched for relational studies investigating the association between BMI and clinical outcomes of patients after CA.
• This meta-analysis included 7 studies involving 25,035 patients.
• Survival condition was assessed as the primary outcome and neurological prognosis was assessed as the secondary outcome.
• Researchers conducted 3 comparisons: underweight (BMI < 18.5) vs normal weight (18.5 ≤ BMI < 25), overweight (25 ≤ BMI < 30) vs normal weight and obese (BMI ≥ 30) vs normal weight.

Results

• Underweight patients had a higher mortality using normal weight patients as reference (odds ratio [OR] 1.35; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.10 to 1.66; P=0.004; I² = 17%).
• Researchers noted overweight to be associated with increased hospital survival (OR 0.80; 95% CI 0.65 to 0.98; P=0.03; I² = 62%) and better neurological recovery (OR 0.72; 95% CI 0.61 to 0.85; P < 0.001; I² = 0%).
• In terms of clinical outcomes, no significant difference was found between obese and normal weight patients.