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. 2022 Sep 7;14(9):1981.
doi: 10.3390/v14091981.

Obesity and Dysmetabolic Factors among Deceased COVID-19 Adults under 65 Years of Age in Italy: A Retrospective Case-Control Study

Loreta A Kondili  1 , Maria Giovanna Quaranta  1 , Mauro Viganò  2 , Xhimi Tata  1 , Franca D'Angelo  1 , Cinzia Lo Noce  3 , Luigi Palmieri  3 , Graziano Onder  3 , Federico D'Amico  4 , Elvira Inglese  5   6 , Massimo Puoti  4   7 , Alessio Aghemo  8   9 , Maria Elena Tosti  1
Affiliations

Obesity and Dysmetabolic Factors among Deceased COVID-19 Adults under 65 Years of Age in Italy: A Retrospective Case-Control Study

Loreta A Kondili et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

Background: Italy has witnessed high levels of COVID-19 deaths, mainly at the elderly age. We assessed the comorbidity and the biochemical profiles of consecutive patients ≤65 years of age to identify a potential risk profile for death.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed clinical data from consecutive hospitalized-for-COVID-19 patients ≤65 years, who were died (593 patients) or discharged (912 patients) during February-December 2020. Multivariate logistic regression identified the mortality risk factors.

Results: Overweight (adjusted odds ratio (adjOR) 5.53, 95% CI 2.07-14.76), obesity (adjOR 8.58, CI 3.30-22.29), dyslipidemia (adjOR 10.02, 95% CI 1.06-94.22), heart disease (adjOR 17.68, 95% CI 3.80-82.18), cancer (adjOR 13.28, 95% CI 4.25-41.51) and male sex (adjOR 5.24, 95% CI 2.30-11.94) were associated with death risk in the youngest population. In the older population (46-65 years of age), the overweight and obesity were also associated with the death risk, however at a lower extent: the adjORs varyied from 1.49 to 2.36 for overweight patients and from 3.00 to 4.07 for obese patients. Diabetes was independently associated with death only in these older patients.

Conclusion: Overweight, obesity and dyslipidemia had a pivotal role in increasing young individuals' death risk. Their presence should be carefully evaluated for prevention and/or prompt management of SARS-CoV2 infection in such high-risk patients to avoid the worst outcomes.

Keywords: clinical outcome; metabolic impairment; risk factors; young adults.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Pattern of comorbidities related to metabolic impairment in discharged vs. deceased patients. Co-morbidities include diabetes, dyslipidemia, heart disease, hypertension and obesity.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Laboratory parameters at hospital admission and before discharging in deceased vs. discharged patients. Outside values were excluded. The Mann–Whitney U test was used to assess differences between distribution.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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