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Retrospective Cohort Study
Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Orthop. Jul 18, 2026; 17(7): 121847
Published online Jul 18, 2026. doi: 10.5312/wjo.121847
Role of obesity in orthopedic surgical outcomes and complications: A retrospective cohort study at King Fahad University Hospital
Ammar K Alomran, Sarah Alhaddad, Yazan Alqahtani, Yaser Bahri, Mohammed Alyami, Abdulaziz Alzawad, Wesam Algurashi, Abdullah Khouqeer, Aljaze Alhumluji
Ammar K Alomran, Department of Orthopedic, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia
Sarah Alhaddad, Abdulaziz Alzawad, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia
Yazan Alqahtani, Yaser Bahri, Mohammed Alyami, Wesam Algurashi, Abdullah Khouqeer, Aljaze Alhumluji, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia
Author contributions: Alomran AK was responsible of supervision, project administration, writing review and editing; Alhaddad S, Alqahtani Y, and Bahri Y did the investigation, writing original draft, visualization; Alzawad A and Khouqeer A did the methodology and conceptualization; Alyami M, Algurashi W and Alhumluji A were responsible of investigation, data curation; all of the authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
AI contribution statement: AI tools (specifically ChatGPT) were used solely for linguistic refinement and formatting assistance. No AI tool was involved in the generation of research data, interpretation of results, or formulation of conclusions. All AI-generated outputs were critically reviewed and revised by the authors.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board in Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, No. IRB-2025-01-0285.
Informed consent statement: This study was designed and conducted as a retrospective cohort study using previously collected data. As such, no direct contact or intervention with human participants occurred during the course of the research. In accordance with applicable ethical guidelines and institutional policies, the requirement for informed consent was waived, as the study involved analysis of existing data and posed minimal risk to participants. All data were handled in a manner that ensured confidentiality and anonymity. The study protocol was reviewed and approved by the appropriate Institutional Review Board, which granted the waiver of informed consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflict of interest in publishing the manuscript.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement – checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement – checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Corresponding author: Sarah Alhaddad, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, 95HV + V3M, King Faisal Ibn Abd Al Aziz, Al Safa, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia. sarahf.alhaddadn@gmail.com
Received: April 2, 2026
Revised: May 3, 2026
Accepted: June 16, 2026
Published online: July 18, 2026
Processing time: 99 Days and 17.3 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Obesity significantly increases the risk of postoperative complications and reduces surgical success rates in orthopedic patients. In this retrospective cohort, obese individuals had markedly higher complication rates and poorer outcomes than non-obese patients. These findings highlight the importance of targeted preoperative optimization, including weight management and careful risk stratification, to improve surgical outcomes in this high-risk population.

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