The impact of body mass index on severity of cervical spine fracture: A retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND

No study has evaluated the relationship between increasing BMI and severity/type of cervical spine injuries.

AIMS AND

OBJECTIVES

The objective of our study was to study the impact of body mass index (BMI) on severity of cervical spine fracture.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective cohort study of patients with traumatic cervical spine fractures at a level I trauma center over a 74-year period. CT scans of the cervical spine were blindly graded according to the AO Spine sub-axial cervical spine classification. The association between BMI and severity of cervical spine fracture was studied by multiple-variable logistic regression.

RESULTS

A total of 291 patients with an average BMI of 26.1 ± 5.4 kg/m2 were studied. Higher BMI was not associated with more severe injury (OR 1.03, 95%, CI: 0.97-1.08). For rollover motor vehicle accident (MVA), the association was trending towards significance (OR 2.55, 95%, CI: 0.98-6.66, P = 0.06).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with higher BMI may be predisposed to more severe cervical spine fracture in rollover MVA, but not non-rollover MVA or falls.