Research Article Influence of Overweight and Obesity on Morbidity and Mortality among Hospitalized Patients in Sri Lanka: A Single-Center Analysis M. D. S. A. Dilrukshi , 1 V. Thotamuna, 2 D. J. Senarath Yapa, 2 L. De Silva, 2 P. Ranasinghe, 1,3 and P. Katulanda 1,2,4 1 National Hospital of Sri Lanka, Colombo, Sri Lanka 2 Diabetes Trial Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka 3 Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka 4 Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka Correspondence should be addressed to M. D. S. A. Dilrukshi; dilrukmatharage@gmail.com Received 14 June 2022; Revised 20 July 2022; Accepted 25 July 2022; Published 18 August 2022 Academic Editor: Mayank Choubey Copyright © 2022 M. D. S. A. Dilrukshi et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background. Current evidence regarding the association between overweight and obesity and in-hospital morbidity and mortality is inconsistent and South Asian populations are underrepresented. Methods. Data relevant to anthropometry, hospital outcomes, complications, and medical diagnoses of all acute medical admissions to the National Hospital of Sri Lanka were collected over a period of 3 months. Analysis was performed with WHO international (ICs) and Asian obesity cut-offs (ACs). Results. Sample size was 2,128 (median age: 57 years [IQR: 42, 67], males: 49.7%). High prevalence of overweight (23.5%), generalized obesity (10.4%), central obesity (28.5%), and underweight (15.4%) was observed (ICs). Patients with either generalized or central obesity had significantly higher in-hospital mortality (4.8% versus 2.5%, p  0.031) and acute kidney injury (AKI) (3.9% versus 1.2%) (p  0.001) compared to normal weight. With ACs, overweight and obesity prevalence increased, without any significant in- crement in morbidity and mortality, but median length of hospital stay was significantly reduced in patients with generalized obesity compared to normal (3 [IQR: 2, 5] versus 4 [IQR: 2, 6], p  0.014). Infections (44.4%) and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) (25.9%) were the most common causes of admission. Overweight and generalized obesity or central obesity were associated with increased prevalence of acute CVDs and CVD risk factors and lower prevalence of acute infections, whilst underweight showed an inverse association. Conclusion. A double burden of malnutrition and diseases were noted among hospital admissions, with obesity being a risk factor for in-hospital all-cause mortality and AKI. Overweight and obesity were associated with increased CVDs and reduced infections. Larger prospective studies are required to characterize these associations among South Asians. 1. Introduction Obesity is characterized by excessive or abnormal accu- mulation of body fat leading to adverse health outcomes. Different morbidities associated with overweight or obesity include diseases with increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk (e.g., type-2 diabetes mellitus [T2DM] and dyslipidemia), functional difficulties (e.g., osteoarthritis [OA]), and psychological disturbances [1], whilst CVDs and cancers appear to drive the excess mortality [2]. Given the above, it can be expected that overweight and obesity could adversely affect hospital outcomes, morbidity, and mortality. However, existing evidence is inconsistent. For example, outcomes of a regional database [3] of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) (n = 13,637) and a large nationwide hospital survey (n = 800, 417; 74.5% with body mass index (BMI) >30 kg/m 2 ) [4] showed that over- weight, obesity, and morbid obesity (BMI >40 kg/m 2 ) are associated with increased risk of in-hospital mortality and morbidity. However, a multinational survey (n = 97,344) of Hindawi Journal of Obesity Volume 2022, Article ID 9172365, 11 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/9172365