Association of Primary Inguinal Hernia with Body Mass Index in Patients of Bundelkhand Region of India

Background: Inguinal hernia is a common condition dealt by surgeons in our country. It is said to be asoociated with increasing age, male gender, smoking, connective tissue disorder and factors responsible for increased intraabdominal pressure. Development of inguinal hernia and its relation with body weight is controversial. So present study has been carried to find out relation of body mass index with development of inguinal hernia in both gender, various age groups and its association with type of inguinal hernia. Methods: This was a prospective study carried out on patients of primary inguinal hernia belonging to Bundelkhand region of India. Patients were categorized according to Body Mass Index (BMI) as normal weight (BMI=18.5-24.9), overweight (BMI=25–29.9), class 1 obese (BMI=30–34.9), and morbid obese i.e. class 2 & 3 obese (BMI≥35). Data were further classified in groups formed on the basis of BMI of patient versus age, gender of patients and type of inguinal hernia viz. direct/ indirect hernia. All the findings were tabulated and inferences were drawn followed by statistical comparison with the help of “Statistical Calculator v 4.0” using suitable test viz. chi-square test with p value <0.05 considered as significant. Results: Age groups ranging from 21 years up to 70 years had highest number of patients who were having normal weight (BMI =18.5-24.9). Among the male gender, highest number of patients belonged to BMI group of 18.5-24.9 (i.e. normal weight). Patient group with BMI of ≥ 35 (i.e. class 2 & 3 obese) had the least frequency distribution in males as well as in females. Among the patients of primary direct inguinal hernia and primary indirect inguinal hernia, patient group with BMI of 18.5-24.9 (normal weight) showed highest frequency and patient group with BMI ≥ 35 (class 2 & 3 obese) showed least frequency. Conclusion: Present study shows that in our study population, high Body mass index is not associated with high occurrence of inguinal hernia among the genders and different age groups, rather it seems to be protective for inguinal hernia