Obesity May Not Affect Outcomes of Transoral Robotic Thyroidectomy: Subset Analysis of 304 Patients

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: Obesity is an increasing health concern worldwide. It has been associated with perioperative complications that could affect patient outcomes. Our aim was to compare surgical outcomes in obese and nonobese patients after transoral robotic thyroid (TORT) surgery. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. METHODS: A total of 304 consecutive patients who underwent TORT between January 2012 to December 2017 were included in the study. Patients were divided into two groups according to their body mass index (BMI): BMI /=30 kg/m(2) . Patient demographics, operative extent, pathological data, surgical outcomes, and postoperative complications were included and analyzed. A chi(2) test was used to compare categorical variables, and a Student t test was used to compare changes of continuous variables between groups. Statistical significance was conferred by a two-tailed P value of