OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effect of body mass index (BMI) on postoperative short-term outcomes of laparoscopy radical gastrectomy by meta-analysis.

METHODSA literature search was performed in PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library databases, CNKI, and CBM, Wanfang database to screen clinical trials published before October 2014 that compared short-term outcomes between high BMI and low BMI patients undergoing laparoscopy radical gastrectomy. RevMan 5.2 was used to perform the meta-analysis. Begg's and Egger's tests were carried out with Stata 12.0 software to evaluate the publication bias of enrolled literatures.

RESULTSTwelve studies involved a total of 4798 gastric cancer patients after laparoscopy radical gastrectomy. There were 1215 patients in high BMI group(BMI≥25 kg/m2) and 3583 patients in the low BMI group (BMI<25 kg/m2). Compared with the low BMI group, the high BMI group were associated with longer operation time (SMD=0.64, 95%CI:0.35-0.93, P=0.000), more intraoperative blood loss(SMD=0.63, 95%CI:0.24-1.03, P=0.002), less retrieved lymph nodes(SMD=-0.44, 95%CI:-0.72--0.17, P=0.002), and more postoperative complications(OR=1.44, 95%CI:1.19-1.74, P=0.000). There were no significant differences in postoperative hospital stay, the time to first flatus and initial complication(P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe higher BMI may result in a longer operation time, more intraoperative blood loss and a higher rate of postoperative complication after laparoscopy radical gastrectomy.