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Ann Thorac Surg 2007;84:10-16
© 2007 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
a Division of Cardiac Research, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Eastern Colorado Health Care System, Denver, Colorado
b Department of Preventative Medicine and Biometrics, University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado
d Department of Medicine, University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado
c Center for Human Nutrition, University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado
Accepted for publication March 5, 2007.
* Address correspondence to Dr Shroyer, Cardiac Research, Denver Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 820 Clermont St (112R), Denver, CO 80220 (Email: laurie.shroyer{at}va.gov).
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Abstract |
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 Top Abstract IntroductionMaterial and MethodsResultsCommentAcknowledgmentsReferences |
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Methods: Data were prospectively collected on 80,792 patients who underwent a CABG procedure during a 14-year period at the 45 Department of Veterans Affairs cardiac surgery programs. Generalized additive models were used to estimate the relationship of BMI and outcomes after a CABG procedure.
Results: We found that the relationship of BMI with post-CABG mortality and morbidity is U-shaped with the minimum risk located around a BMI of 30 kg/m2, indicating that patients classified as overweight have the lowest risk, and those in the lower end of the obese range do not have seriously elevated risk. This U-shape relationship is significantly nonlinear and robust to adjustment for other risk factors.
Conclusions: This study demonstrates that BMI is an independent predictor of mortality and morbidity after CABG surgery. Previous studies that model BMI linearly or as categories cannot accurately capture this U-shaped relationship and are unlikely to find a significant contribution by including BMI. Further research is needed to determine the mechanisms of risk for patients with low and high BMI and whether interventions to modify BMI may improve patient outcomes.
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Introduction |
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TopAbstractIntroductionMaterial and MethodsResultsCommentAcknowledgmentsReferences |
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Despite this, controversy remains about the relation between obesity and outcomes among patients with cardiovascular disease. In particular, there is ongoing debate about obesity as a risk factor for adverse outcomes after cardiovascular procedures [6, 10–16]. Several prior studies have found that obesity is not a risk factor for operative mortality after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery [10–12, 14, 15], and it has been suggested that any risk from obesity is directly attributable to clustered risk factors of smoking or diabetes. Other studies [13, 16] have concluded that the extreme obesity category was a significant independent predictor for adverse outcomes and prolonged hospitalization after a CABG operation. Thus, it remains unclear whether obesity is an independent risk factor for post-CABG outcomes, and whether obesity is an important target for risk modification to improve outcomes after CABG surgery.
A significant limitation of some previous studies examining the relationship between obesity and post-CABG outcomes has been the failure to evaluate potential nonlinear associations between body mass index (BMI) and outcomes. In addition, there has been limited formal evaluation of interactions between BMI and key covariates such as age, smoking, and diabetes. Accordingly, the objective of this study was to evaluate, in a large multicenter cohort, the relationship between BMI before surgery with post-CABG outcomes using generalized additive models (GAM). These models provide a flexible method for modeling nonlinear covariate effects, including covariate adjustments and interactions. It is hoped that the results of this study will help clarify the relationship between obesity and post-CABG outcomes, and determine whether BMI is a potential target for interventions to improve patient outcomes for CABG surgery.
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Material and Methods |
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TopAbstractIntroductionMaterial and MethodsResultsCommentAcknowledgmentsReferences |
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For this study 12 predictor variables were considered; refer to Table 1 for the list of these variables. All variables are collected within the CICSP and these were chosen a priori for this analysis on the basis of clinical relevance and reliability. Body mass index is a widely used index of obesity and is calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. A dichotomous variable for hypertension, overall smoking status (eg, never smoked versus smoked greater than 3 months or less than 3 months before surgery), and hypoalbuminemia [10] as measured by serum albumin less than 3.5 g/dL were not completely collected within CICSP until 2001 and were therefore included in a subanalysis. The primary outcome measures used in this analysis were 30-day operative mortality and 30-day morbidity (occurrence of at least one of the major complications listed in Table 1). Deaths are verified using the VA Beneficiary Indicator Records Locator System [19], which is a national death registry for all veterans.
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Hastie and Tibshirani [20] developed the GAM to extend the generalized linear model (including logistic regression) when the form of the relationship between covariates and the outcome is suspected to be nonlinear. Few assumptions are made about the structure of the association of BMI with the outcome, and the data are allowed to shape the functional form of the relationship. These models were fit using the ‘GAM’ function in the S-PLUS software version 6.1 (Insightful Corp, Seattle, WA).
Generalized additive models were used in the logistic regression setting to estimate the nonlinear relationship of BMI with both 30-day mortality and morbidity separately. The optimal smoothing parameter for the analysis was chosen based on Bayes information criteria values [21]. As a result, a smoothing spline model with 3 degrees of freedom was used for all smooth model terms. In the preliminary analysis, univariate models containing only preoperative BMI were estimated. To assess the stability of the BMI curve to differences in other patient factors, two further types of analyses were done. First, multivariate logistic regression models (including BMI while adjusting for other risk variables) were estimated. Adjustment for other risk variables accounts for imbalances in risk factors across the range of BMI (eg, more smokers in the low BMI range or diabetics in the high BMI range). In these models, age and surgery year were included in nonlinear form. Second, models including interactions between BMI and other patient risk factors were estimated. These allow different nonlinear association patterns between BMI and the outcome for different risk groups (eg, smokers versus nonsmokers or diabetics versus nondiabetics). These models were fit by estimating a separate BMI curve for each level of the categorical risk variable.
These analyses were then repeated using a more recent subset of the data (2001 to 2005), which included additional risk variables that were of interest for adjustment. These variables include hypertension, overall smoking status, and hypoalbuminemia.
Using a semiparametric GAM, the estimated effect of BMI as a continuous risk factor is represented by a flexible function rather than a single parameter, so the best way to display the results is to plot the function. Pointwise standard error bands are used to show the precision of the estimated curve. To test the significance of the nonlinear effects, a likelihood ratio test was used. Significant results of this test indicate that the nonparametric smoothing spline fits the data significantly better than a linear function.
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Results |
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BMI < 25), 34,063 (42.2%) were overweight (25 BMI < 30), 19,391 (24.0%) were obese (30 BMI < 35), and 8,321 (10.3%) were morbidly obese (BMI 
35). Increasing BMI was associated with younger age, lower rates of smoking and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease does increase slightly in the higher BMI categories), lower rates of previous myocardial infarction and cerebral vascular disease, lower rates of emergent surgical priority, and higher rates of insulin-controlled diabetes. In particular, for patients with BMI less than 18.5 kg/m2, 45% were current smokers and 38% had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease compared with 24% and 25% respectively, of those with BMI greater than 35 kg/m2. Nine percent of patients with BMI less than 18.5 kg/m2 had insulin-controlled diabetes, compared with 23% of those with BMI greater than 35 kg/m2. This table also summarizes the associations of mortality and the individual and overall morbidities with categories of BMI. The left panel in Figure 1 shows the distribution of BMI in our population with a histogram and a smoothed version of the histogram (density estimate). Ninety-five percent of this population had a BMI between 20.0 kg/m2 and 40.1 kg/m2. Figure 1 also shows the increasing trend in BMI of the VA population undergoing CABG procedures during the 14-year period. Note that despite the increase, the median is still contained in the overweight category.
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30 kg/m2) were tested in separate multiple logistic regression models; both were not significant with regard to mortality (p = 0.533 and 0.734, respectively). Figure 3 displays the relationship between BMI and the odds ratios, using a referent value of BMI of 25 kg/m2, of each outcome for both the univariate and multivariate models. For the multivariate model, the BMI curve represents the estimated relationship to the odds ratio curve in a hypothetical homogeneous risk-matched population. These adjustments account for patterns such as those noted in Table 1, where for example underweight patients are more likely to be smokers and have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease whereas overweight patients are more likely to be younger and diabetic. The minimum of the U-shaped curve of BMI remains in the overweight, slightly obese range regardless of whether none or all of the other covariates are included in the model, indicating that this estimate is robust to imbalances in risk factors across the BMI range. As can be seen from Figure 3, once the other risk factors have been adjusted for, the minimum of the curve shifts slightly to a lower BMI, and the risk associated with being underweight is lowered while the risk associated with a BMI greater than 35 kg/m2 has increased. The shifting of the curve suggests that for a hypothetical population homogeneous with respect to all the other risk factors, the risk associated with being underweight is decreased while the risk associated with being obese is increased. This may be owing to the fact that the obese patients are younger and the majority of risk variables being adjusted appear to be more closely associated with being underweight. Graphs for the more recent subset of data were identical to those presented.
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Comment |
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TopAbstractIntroductionMaterial and MethodsResultsCommentAcknowledgmentsReferences |
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The results of this study expand the literature in several ways. First, the results provide evidence that low or high BMI are, indeed, independent risk factors for post-CABG outcomes. This is in contrast to those studies that found no association [10–12, 14, 15]. The more accurate nonlinear modeling of the association between BMI and post-CABG outcomes resolves previous contradictions in the literature. The U-shape may explain why when left as a continuous variable and estimated linearly, BMI has not provided much information when used in parametric models. For example, in our data set the linear relationship and the obese category were not significant. The standard categorization of BMI also does not seem to describe the relationship very well, as the cutoffs are not located at optimal points along the curve and the curve is not uniform within the categories. A general agreement as to how to model BMI in this literature is needed. The results of this analysis in which the nonlinear association with BMI was clearly demonstrated can aid in this determination. Future modeling of BMI should account for this curved relationship. Alternatively, the use of a quadratic BMI term in risk models would be a simple and more accurate way to estimate the BMI curve. Finally, these findings are consistent with studies of BMI in other medical populations that have suggested a U-shaped relationship [1, 5, 13, 15, 22], although the modeling approaches in several of these studies required more stringent assumptions and do not provide as clear a description of the shape of the association.
Some previous studies [4, 12, 13] have used stratification on BMI to examine possible related or confounding variables. Although stratification does have some advantages such as simplicity of analysis and interpretation, the statistical methods we have used provide smooth estimates of associations of BMI with outcomes that do not require prespecified cutoffs, provide a closer examination of BMI corresponding to minimum risk, allow for covariate adjustment and interactions, and provide valid statistical inference within these complex situations. In large data sets such as CICSP, the nonlinear methods used in our study can give a more detailed look at complex patterns.
Several recent studies have investigated BMI as a preoperative risk factor in CABG surgeries [10–16]. The conflicting results in these papers have caused controversy as to whether or not BMI is an important risk factor. The results of this paper illustrate that the differences may be owing to the fact that BMI was not optimally modeled. Habib and colleagues [16] use propensity score methods to investigate the effects of body size on outcomes after a CABG procedure. From an analysis viewpoint, both GAM with adjustment for relevant covariates and propensity score methods are options intended to address confounding factors in studies in which randomization is not possible. We have chosen the GAM approach with adjustment for or stratification by other covariates because our primary interest is in estimating the functional shape of the BMI versus mortality or morbidity association. The use of the GAM model for our study provides information on the relationship between BMI and postoperative outcomes, which can be incorporated into the smaller studies that are restricted to certain statistical methods and unable to apply these more robust techniques.
There are several issues to consider in the interpretation of this study. First, the study may have limited generalizability given the VA study population (eg, a high proportion of males and high prevalence of comorbid conditions). Second, although the availability of clinical data and robust data set for analysis are strengths of the study, there is always the possibility of unmeasured confounding in observational studies. Finally, in this paper, as in most other published studies, BMI was used to determine obesity. Body mass index may not accurately reflect adiposity in certain types of people [22]. However, for the general population, it is usually assumed that people above a certain BMI have excess fat as well as being overweight [8]. It is also important to note that the present study is cross-sectional and thus does not take into account recent weight loss and shifts in body weight.
In conclusion, obesity has been found to be a major risk factor for many chronic health conditions, and also leads to disability, impairs quality of life, and contributes to escalating health-care costs. Despite these facts, several prior studies reported that obesity is not a risk factor for operative mortality after a CABG procedure. The results of this study show that both very low and very high BMI does affect CABG outcomes, including both mortality and major complications, by means of a nonlinear relationship. Although the lowest risk is associated with those in the overweight range (BMI near 30 kg/m2), there is a significant increase in risk associated with both lower and higher BMI. The results of this study suggest that including BMI in a linear form is not sufficient, and that a more sophisticated modeling approach for BMI should be included in pre-CABG risk assessment and risk adjustment models for CABG surgery outcomes, and support the need for further studies to elucidate the mechanisms of association between both high and low BMI and adverse outcomes, as well as subsequently identifying and evaluating future treatment interventions to reduce risk in these patients.
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Acknowledgments |
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TopAbstractIntroductionMaterial and MethodsResultsCommentAcknowledgmentsReferences |
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References |
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TopAbstractIntroductionMaterial and MethodsResultsCommentAcknowledgmentsReferences |
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