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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Med.
Sec. Infectious Diseases: Pathogenesis and Therapy
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1549709

Impact of Underweight Status on Mortality in Sepsis Patients: A Meta-Analysis

Provisionally accepted
Jiaan Chen Jiaan Chen 1Fan Zhang Fan Zhang 1Li Liang Li Liang 1Xuming Pan Xuming Pan 2Jiancheng Zhang Jiancheng Zhang 2Guangjun Jin Guangjun Jin 2*
  • 1 Department of Clinical medicine, the Second Clinical Medical College, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
  • 2 Department of emergency, the second affiliated hospital of zhejiang Chinese medical university, HangZhou 310005, Zhejiang, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objective: The evidence regarding the impact of underweight status on clinical outcomes in patients with sepsis are still scarce and controversial. We aimed at conducting a meta-analysis to evaluate the potential associations between underweight and the mortality rate among sepsis patients.Methods: A comprehensive electronic search was performed in PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science databases. Odds ratios (ORs) or mean differences (MDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using RevMan 5.3.Results: A total of 58,348 patients (normal weight group: 49,084 patients; underweight group: 9,264 patients) from 23 studies were included in this meta-analysis. The results indicated that the in-hospital mortality (OR 1.28, 95% CI 1.21, 1.35; Heterogeneity: I2 = 21%, P = 0.21), 28-day mortality (OR 1.54, 95% CI 1.26, 1.88; Heterogeneity: I2 = 74%, P < 0.0001) and 1-year mortality (OR 1.78, 95% CI 1.58, 2.00; Heterogeneity: I2 = 41%, P = 0.17) of underweight patients were significantly higher than those of normal weight patients. However, there was no significant difference in length of hospital stay or ICU length of stay between underweight patients and normal-weight patients.Conclusions: Underweight is associated with increased mortality in patients with sepsis. Physicians should pay more attention to the management of underweight sepsis patients.

    Keywords: 1-year mortality, In-hospital mortality, Meta-analysis, Sepsis, Underweight

    Received: 21 Dec 2024; Accepted: 21 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Chen, Zhang, Liang, Pan, Zhang and Jin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Guangjun Jin, Department of emergency, the second affiliated hospital of zhejiang Chinese medical university, HangZhou 310005, Zhejiang, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.