Does “obesity paradox” exist in the functional outcome of patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage? A retrospective cohort study in Saudi Arabia

Background Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a sever type of stroke and the risk increased for persons with current smoking, positive family history and hypertension. However, an elevated body mass index (BMI) does not consider an independent risk factor, but it's related to poor neurological outcome or death. Few studies have been conducted to confirm the validity of obesity paradox on subarachnoid, but still the evidence is not conclusive. Methods A retrospective cohort study that depends on the retrieval and data extracting from the medical records for all the patient with SAH, in King Abdul-Aziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. For total cases of subarachnoid who admitted over the past 11 years, only 80 patients confirmed aneurysmal by (digital subtracted angiography). All data analyses were conducted using the SPSS program. The institutional review board approval (IRB) has been obtained. Results A total of 80 patients included in our analysis. The mean age at onset was 47.3, 47 (58.8%) were male, 32 (40%) were obese, and 33 (41.3%) was a smoker. Majority of them didn’t suffer from diabetes 59 (73.8%), hypertension 43 (53.8%) or previous stroke 71 (88.8%). In our population, we observed that there is no significant influence of obesity paradox on functional outcome and mortality after SAH (p=0.430; p=0.235, respectively). Conclusion Obesity paradox appeared to affect neither functional outcome nor mortality after SAH.