Prevalence of Obesity in Inguinal Hernia Repair Patients in a Tertiary Care Center

Introduction: Inguinal hernia is a common surgical problem, with a lifetime risk of 27% in men and 3% in women. Its cumulative incidence is 17.2% and 12.3% in body mass index of <25 kg/m2 and 25-30 kg/m2 respectively. Obesity had been regarded as the risk factor for the development of an inguinal hernia. However, recent epidemiologic studies have suggested the decreased prevalence of inguinal hernia in increased weight and body mass index individuals. The aim of this study is to find out the prevalence of obesity in inguinal hernia repair patients in a tertiary care center.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional observational study was performed in Bir Hospital from May 2018 to December 2019 after taking ethical approval from the institutional review board of NAMS. Convenient sampling was done with a sample size of 219. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 23 and Microsoft Excel software by descriptive statistics.

Results: The mean body mass index was 22.10±3.07 kg/m2. Body mass index category 18.5-22.9 kg/m2 had 133 (61%) male and seven (3.2%) female patients, category ≥30 kg/m2 had four (1.8%) male. Most of inguinal hernia repair patients were farmers 158 (72.5%). Common risk factors noted were smoking 142 (65.1%), heavy work 112 (51.4%), chronic cough 65 (29.8%). Most of the complications occurred in the normal body mass index category and the prevalence of complications decreased as the body mass index increased. The recurrence was found in 3 (1.4%) inguinal hernia repairs.

Conclusions: The majority of inguinal hernia repair patients were non-obese, and complications were less in obese patients.