Does obesity increase inguinal hernias?

Is the prevalence of hernia a result of the prevalence of obesity effecting the recurrence rate?

Figure 1 represents an inguinal hernia protuised through a defective inguinal canal obtained from: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/inguinal-hernia/home/ovc-20206354

Abstract-

The prevalence of hernias is greater in obesity. Obesity is suspected to impact the success rate of inguinal hernia repairs as the recurrence rate is higher. The higher recurrence rate was identified as a result of surgical and postoperative complications affecting the success rate of surgery. Certain factors decrease how successful the surgery is and increase the risk of a recurrence. Factors such as surgical complications and post-operative complications and surgical procedure type reduce the success rate.

The aim is to investigation the impact of obesity on the success rate of inguinal hernia repair, by identifying the amount of recurrences, surgical and postoperative complications. 

A study by Y El-Dhuwaib tested this using, 125,342 non-obese patients who underwent either one of the inguinal hernia surgical procedures and revealed that laparoscopic surgery had a reoperation rate of 4%, whereas open repair shown 2.1%. (Y El-Dhuwaib et al., 2012) As the non-obese individuals undergoing open repair had less abdominal fat, it meant the surgeon could easily access the hernia through the small incisional line, making open repair more effective. (Y El-Dhuwaib et al., 2012)

A study by Froylich reviewed 186 obese patients, 35 underwent laparoscopy repair and 151 underwent open surgery inguinal hernia repair between 2004 and 2012. (Froylich et al., 2016)  Throughout the 58 months’ the patients were monitored, a higher recurrence rate was found in open repair with 27.1%. Laparoscopic was more effective and shown a recurrence rate of 20.0% (Froylich et al., 2016)

The most effective surgery in non-obese patients with a BMI between 18.5-24.9 was least effective in obese patients with a BMI over 30 representing the effect of factors within the studies. Therefor limitations and risk factors are prevented within the study proposal to ensure accurate results are obtained and allow evaluation on whether obesity has an impact on the success rate of inguinal hernia repair.