The purpose of this study was to answer two questions: is there a relationship between race and outcome in size reduction procedures such as abdominoplasty, and if so, what race-specific factors contribute to the better or worse outcomes.

I analyzed the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), an inpatient care database. Extracting all patients who had undergone a size reduction procedure, I analyzed three outcome variables: complications, length of stay, and total charge.

30,903 size reduction procedures were coded in the NIS database. When discharge weights were applied, these represented 150,365 size reduction procedures performed in the United States from 1993-2002. In the analysis, blacks were found to have significantly more complications than whites, hispanics, or asian/pacific islanders (p<0.001). This translated into a statistically significant longer length of stay and into a greater total charge for blacks. Furthermore, the black population had nearly twice the diabetics and nearly 50% more morbidly obese patients. These race-specific factors led to significantly more complications and a longer LOS.

In summary, I found that there was a direct relationship between race and outcome. This relationship was due to several race-specific risk factors, specifically a higher incidence of morbid obesity and diabetes in the black population.