# Association between body mass index and long-term all-cause mortality in critically ill patients without malignant tumors

## TL;DR

This study found that being overweight or obese is linked to lower long-term death rates in critically ill patients without cancer, suggesting an 'obesity paradox.'

## Contribution

The study confirms the 'obesity paradox' in non-cancer ICU patients using a large database and advanced statistical models.

## Key findings

- Overweight and obese ICU patients had significantly lower mortality than underweight and normal-weight patients.
- Higher BMI remained a protective factor for long-term mortality after adjusting for confounders (HR 0.65–0.72).
- A U-shaped relationship between BMI and mortality was observed, with the lowest risk at higher BMI levels.

## Abstract

The “obesity paradox” in certain diseases has been reported in previous studies. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between BMI and long-term mortality in all critically ill patients without malignant tumors who were admitted to the ICU.

Using the MIMIC-IV 2.2 database, we included all ICU admissions for patients without malignant tumors and categorized them into four groups based on the World Health Organization (WHO) obesity criteria. The relationship between BMI and 90-day, 180-day, and 1-year mortality was analyzed using univariate and multivariate Cox regression models, along with restricted cubic spline (RCS) models to account for potential non-linear associations.

A total of 19,089 patients were included, with 90-day, 180-day, and 1-year mortality rates of 18.35%, 20.80%, and 23.96%, respectively. Overweight and obese patients exhibited significantly lower mortality rates compared to underweight and normal-weight individuals at all time points. After adjusting for confounders, higher BMI remained a protective factor for long-term mortality (HR 0.65–0.72, P < 0.001). RCS curves demonstrated a U-shaped relationship between BMI and mortality, and subgroup analyses confirmed the protective effect of higher BMI in different subgroups.

The “obesity paradox” may apply to critically ill patients without malignant tumors.