Obesity may increase risk of dying from COVID-19, especially in younger men

COVID
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Researchers found a striking association between BMI and risk for death among patients with a diagnosis of COVID-19. The association was independent of obesity-related comorbities and other potential confounders. Their findings also suggest that high BMI was more strongly associated with COVID-19 mortality in younger adults and male patients, but not in female patients and older adults. A retrospective cohort study is published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Researchers studied for more than 6,900 patients treated for COVID-19 in the Kaiser Permanete Southern California health care system from February to May 2020 to determine the association between obesity and death from COVID-19. The obesity risk was adjusted for common comorbidities, including diabetes, hypertension, heart failure, myocardial infarction, and chronic lung or renal disease, which themselves are for poor outcomes in COVID-19. The study also took into account when SARS-CoV-2 was detected. They found that patients in the highest weight group were four times as likely to die within 21 days of being diagnosed with COVID-19 as those in the normal weight group. Men and those younger than 60 years who had a high body weight were at particularly high risk for death. According to the researchers, identifying obesity as an is important so that patients with obesity can take extra precautions and and public health officials can consider this when providing care and making public health decisions.

The author of an accompanying editorial from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine suggests that these findings in addition to prior research should put to rest any notion that obesity is common in severe COVID-19 because it is common in the population. The research proves that obesity is an important independent risk factor for serious COVID-19 disease and that the risks are higher in younger patients. According to the author, this is probably not because obesity is particularly damaging in this age group; it is more likely that other serious comorbidities that evolve later in life take over as dominant risk factors. That males are particularly affected may reflect their greater visceral adiposity over females.

More information: Sara Y. Tartof et al. Obesity and Mortality Among Patients Diagnosed With COVID-19: Results From an Integrated Health Care Organization, Annals of Internal Medicine (2020). DOI: 10.7326/M20-3742

Journal information: Annals of Internal Medicine
Citation: Obesity may increase risk of dying from COVID-19, especially in younger men (2020, August 14) retrieved 29 March 2024 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-08-obesity-dying-covid-younger-men.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

37 shares

Feedback to editors