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. 2020 Dec;10(6):e12414.
doi: 10.1111/cob.12414. Epub 2020 Oct 20.

COVID-19: Impact of obesity and diabetes on disease severity

Salman Al-Sabah  1   2 , Mohannad Al-Haddad  1 , Sarah Al-Youha  1 , Mohammad Jamal  1   2 , Sulaiman Almazeedi  1
Affiliations

COVID-19: Impact of obesity and diabetes on disease severity

Salman Al-Sabah et al. Clin Obes. 2020 Dec.

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is straining the healthcare system, particularly for patients with severe outcomes requiring admittance to the intensive care unit (ICU). This study investigated the potential associations of obesity and diabetes with COVID-19 severe outcomes, assessed as ICU admittance. Medical history, demographic and patient characteristics of a retrospective cohort (1158 patients) hospitalized with COVID-19 were analysed at a single centre in Kuwait. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to explore the associations between different variables and ICU admittance. Of 1158 hospitalized patients, 271 had diabetes, 236 had hypertension and 104 required admittance into the ICU. From patients with available measurements, 157 had body mass index (BMI) ≥25 kg/m2 . Univariate analysis showed that overweight, obesity class I and morbid obesity were associated with ICU admittance. Patients with diabetes were more likely to be admitted to the ICU. Two models for multivariate regression analysis assessed either BMI or diabetes on ICU outcomes. In the BMI model, class I and morbid obesities were associated with ICU admittance. In the diabetes model, diabetes was associated with increased ICU admittance, whereas hypertension had a protective effect on ICU admittance. In our cohort, overweight, obesity and diabetes in patients with COVID-19 were associated with ICU admittance, increasing the risk of poor outcomes.

Keywords: Covid19; diabetes; intensive care; obesity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Independent predictors of ICU admission from multivariate logistic regression analysis. CI, confidence interval; ICU, intensive care unit; Ref, reference value
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Receiver operating characteristic curve for the BMI multivariate model of prediction. BMI, body mass index
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Receiver operating characteristic curve for the diabetes multivariate model of prediction
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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