Obesity Raises AKI Risk in Heart Surgery

Obesity independently predicts acute kidney injury (AKI) after cardiac surgery, and oxidative stress may partially mediate this association, according to an online report in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. AKI developed in 112 (25%) of 445 heart surgery patients.

Among obese patients (body mass index [BMI] of 30 kg/m² or greater), AKI risk increased 26.5% for every 5 kg/ m² increase in BMI, Frederic T. Billings IV, MD, of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn., and colleagues found.

From the July 01, 2012 Issue of Renal and Urology News