Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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Review Meta Analysis
Systematic review and meta-analysis of complications and outcomes of obese patients with burns.
Obesity has been described as a factor that contributes to poorer outcomes and more severe complications in burned patients. We thus aimed to meta-analyse the literature present regarding the extent to which obesity contributes to the prevalence of various complications in burns. We searched MEDLINE, Science Direct and Web of Science for 363 articles. ⋯ Number of wound infections, number of burn operations and length of ICU stay were not found to be statistically different. We postulate that our significant findings are due to the proinflammatory state and poorer glycemic control in obese patients. As our review was limited by the few articles currently available in the literature, it is suggested that more studies of high quality be performed to better understand the implications of obesity in burns.