Visceral obesity and SSR
Baseline pre-operative CRP values were significantly associated with VAT both in females (ρ=0.36, p=0.001) and males (ρ=0.19; p=0.04). A positive correlation between VAT and post-operative CRP values was found both in females and males on POD1 (ρ=0.24, p=0.001 and ρ=0.20, p=0.04), POD2 (ρ=0.32, p<0.001 and ρ=0.15, p=0.03) and POD3 (ρ=0.31, p<0.001 and ρ=0.17, p=0.02), but not on POD4 and POD5.
VO patients displayed higher baseline CRP levels compared to non-VO patients (3, 1-6 mg/L vs. 1, 1-3 mg/L; p<0.001). Higher CRP values were also observed in the VO group on POD1, POD2, POD3 and POD5 (Figure 1 and Table 2).
Linear regression analysis showed that VO was positively correlated with CRP from POD 1 to 3, with the highest coefficient on POD2 (β=0.164; p<0.001). As showed in Supplementary Table 3, conversion to open surgery and surgical time were positively associated with CRP levels. Conversely, ERAS protocol displayed a negative correlation.
In multivariate analysis (Table 4), VO was confirmed as independent risk factor for increased CRP on POD1 and POD2 but not on POD3 (β=0.062; p=0.23). ERAS enrollment was independently associated with reduced CRP values from POD2 to POD5, while conversion to open surgery or duration of surgery were associated with increased CRP values on POD1 and POD1, or with POD 2 and POD3, respectively.