Chicago—A higher body mass index (BMI) is a significant predictor of 30-day hospital readmission after ambulatory open hernia repair, a study has found. The investigators’ regression model indicated that a BMI of 45.7 kg/m2 could be used as a threshold value for deciding whether obese patients should undergo the surgery as inpatients or outpatients.
“Obesity is highly prevalent in the [United States] and many other countries, and more and more patients show up for ambulatory