BMI higher than 25 linked with better outcomes in TAVR

The team identified patients who underwent TAVR in 2020. ICD-10-PCS codes identified TAVR cases. The final sample had 77319 TAVR hospitalizations and was categorized into five groups based on BMI.

The study results could be summarised as follows:

• There was no significant difference in in-hospital mortality among different BMI groups than those who had normal BMI in the range of 20-24.9
• Those with a BMI of 25 or higher had a shorter duration of hospitalization than those with a normal BMI.
• Those with BMI between 30 and 39.9 had decreased hospitalization costs.

They added, "Our study highlighted the prospect of a decrease in atrial fibrillation, acute heart failure and acute kidney injury complications following TAVR in those patients who had above-normal BMI."

This study cannot establish a causal relationship between BMI and favourable outcomes after TAVR and can only provide evidence of an association. We used BMI as a surrogate measurement for body weight. Still, other weight metrics like waist circumference or waist-to-hip ratio can provide additional insight into the mechanism of this association, they wrote.

Further reading:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0146280623002967?dgcid=raven_sd_aip_email