Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Jan 19;16(1):20.
doi: 10.1186/s13098-023-01246-z.

The impact of obesity in hospitalized patients with COVID-19: a retrospective cohort study

Fábio Alfano Carra  1 , Maria Edna de Melo  2   3 , Matheo A M Stumpf  2 , Cintia Cercato  2 , Ariana E Fernandes  2 , Marcio C Mancini  2   3 ; EPICCoV Study Group
Collaborators, Affiliations

The impact of obesity in hospitalized patients with COVID-19: a retrospective cohort study

Fábio Alfano Carra et al. Diabetol Metab Syndr. .

Abstract

Background: Obesity is believed to be a risk factor for COVID-19 and unfavorable outcomes, although data on this remains to be better elucidated.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of obesity on the endpoints of patients hospitalized due to SARS-CoV-2.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study evaluated patients hospitalized at a tertiary hospital (Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da USP) from March to December 2020. Only patients positive for COVID-19 (real-time PCR or serology) were included. Data were collected from medical records and included clinical and demographic information, weight and height, SAPS-3 score, comorbidities, and patient-centered outcomes (mortality, and need for mechanical ventilation, renal replacement therapy, or vasoactive drugs). Patients were divided into categories according to their BMI (underweight, eutrophic, overweight and obesity) for comparison porpoise.

Results: A total of 2547 patients were included. The mean age was 60.3 years, 56.2% were men, 65.2% were white and the mean BMI was 28.1 kg/m2. SAPS-3 score was a risk factor for all patient-centered outcomes (HR 1.032 for mortality, OR 1.03 for dialysis, OR 1.07 for vasoactive drug use, and OR 1.08 for intubation, p < 0.05). Male sex increased the risk of death (HR 1.175, p = 0.027) and dialysis (OR 1.64, p < 0.001), and underweight was protective for vasoactive drug use (OR 0.45, p = 0.027) and intubation (OR 0.31, p < 0.003).

Conclusion: Obesity itself was not an independent factor for worse patient-centered outcomes. Critical clinical state (indirectly evaluated by SAPS-3) appears to be the most important variable related to hard outcomes in patients infected with COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; Critical care; Mechanical ventilation; Mortality; Obesity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart of included patients
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Jha P, Brown PE, Ansumana R. Counting the global COVID-19 dead. Lancet Lond Engl. 2022;399(10339):1937–1938. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(22)00845-5. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Richardson S, Hirsch JS, Narasimhan M, et al. Presenting characteristics, comorbidities, and outcomes among 5700 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the New York city area. JAMA. 2020;323(20):2052–2059. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.6775. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Brandão SCS, Godoi ETAM Oliveira Cordeiro LH de, et al. COVID-19 and obesity: the meeting of two pandemics. Arch Endocrinol Metab. 2021;65(1):3–13. 10.20945/2359-3997000000318 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alarcon PC, Damen MSMA, Madan R, et al. Adipocyte inflammation and pathogenesis of viral pneumonias: an overlooked contribution. Mucosal Immunol. 2021;14(6):1224–1234. doi: 10.1038/s41385-021-00404-8. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bourgonje AR, Abdulle AE, Timens W, et al. Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), SARS-CoV-2 and the pathophysiology of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) J Pathol. 2020;251(3):228–248. doi: 10.1002/path.5471. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources