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Obesity No Barrier For Shoulder Replacement Surgery, Study Finds
A study of over 20,000 surgeries in the UK and Denmark shows obese patients have a 60% lower risk of death after shoulder replacement than those with healthy BMI.
- On Nov. 20, 2025, a PLOS Medicine study found higher BMI was not linked to increased death or complication risk after shoulder replacement, using data from the United Kingdom and Denmark.
- Hospitals and national organisations facing conflicting evidence prompted researchers to study obesity-related risks, as some hospitals deny joint replacements to high BMI patients despite no formal recommendations.
- Using linked national data, researchers analysed more than 20,000 elective shoulder replacements in nearly 21,000 patients across the UK and Denmark, adjusting for age, sex, index of multiple deprivation, surgical indication, and ASA score.
- Authors say the findings support changing eligibility rules and note that while BMI thresholds limit joint replacement access, the study found these restrictions are unsupported and shoulder replacements improve quality of life.
- The analysis flagged important limitations, noting the small underweight patients sample and 131 high-BMI patients in the UK and 70 in Denmark.
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Total News Sources28
Leaning Left3Leaning Right4Center7Last UpdatedBias Distribution50% Center
Bias Distribution
- 50% of the sources are Center
50% Center
L 21%
C 50%
R 29%
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