Objectives: To assess the effect of body mass index (BMI) on outcome among patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) admitted for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI).
Background: Being overweight or obese is associated with improved outcome following certain medical treatments, suggesting the existence of a BMI paradox. However, the relationship between BMI and mortality after TAVI remains controversial.
Methods: Patients were classified according to World Health Organisation criteria such as normal weight, overweight, or obesity according to their BMI (18.5 to 24.9 kg/m2, 25.0 to 29.9 kg/m2, and ≥30.0 kg/m2, respectively).
Results: A total of 549 consecutive patients (age: 80.2 ± 7.5 years; logistic European system for cardiac operative risk evaluation [EuroSCORE]: 17.3 ± 9.9%) who underwent TAVI for AS were included. Of these patients, 43% (n = 237) had normal weight, 36% (n = 200) were overweight, and 20% (n = 112) were obese. There were no differences in peri-operative bleeding or vascular complication rates between the groups. All-cause mortality after 30 days, and 1 year, were higher in normal weight patients compared with overweight and obese patients (7% vs. 5 and 4%, p = 0.383, and 19% vs. 9 and 10%, p = 0.006, respectively). After adjustment for several confounding factors, overweight was associated with a decreased 30-day and 1‑year all-cause mortality outcome (hazard ratio [HR] 0.69; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.47-0.99, and HR 0.65; 95% CI 0.45-0.94, respectively).
Conclusions: Despite the well-documented adverse effects of increased body weight on health, being overweight is associated with improved survival following TAVI when compared with normal weight.
Keywords: Body mass index; Obesity; Obesity paradox; Overweight; TAVR; Transcatheter aortic valve implantation.