Abstract

Background The aim of the present study is to assess the association between obesity and mortality in hospitalized patients with type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) as well as the risk of readmission in less than 30 days. Methods A retrospective chart review of a cohort of consecutive patients admitted with T2DM in internal medicine wards in Spain between January 1st, 2005, and December 31st, 2013, was performed. Patients with a diagnosis of obesity were identified. The mortality and re-admittance indexes of obese patients were compared with the subpopulation without theses diagnosis. Results A total of 1,499,282 admittances were analyzed and 199,871 (13.3%) diagnosis of obesity were identified. Obese patients showed a lower in-hospital mortality risk (odds ratio [OR], 0.667; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.647-0.675) and early re-admittance risk (OR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.94-0.97) than the non-obese even after adjusting for possible confounding factors. Conclusions Obesity in those hospitalized for T2DM in internal medicine wards is associated with reduced in-hospital mortality risk, early re-admittance and shorter length of stay.

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