Obesity is Associated with Increased Risk for Mortality Among Hospitalized Patients with COVID‐19

• Published in: Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) Vol. 28; no. 10; pp. 1806 - 1810
• Main Authors: Pettit, Natasha N., MacKenzie, Erica L., Ridgway, Jessica P., Pursell, Kenneth, Ash, Daniel, Patel, Bhakti, Pho, Mai T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.10.2020; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: African Americans - statistics & numerical data; Aged; Betacoronavirus; Brief Cutting Edge Report; Comorbidity; Coronavirus Infections - mortality; Coronavirus Infections - virology; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID‐19 and Obesity; Female; Hospital Mortality; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Mortality; Obesity; Obesity - mortality; Obesity - virology; Odds Ratio; Pandemics; Pneumonia, Viral - mortality; Pneumonia, Viral - virology; Retrospective Studies; Risk Factors; SARS-CoV-2; United States - epidemiology; Viral infections; United States
• ISSN: 1930-7381; 1930-739X
• DOI: 10.1002/oby.22941

Objective Obesity has been identified as a risk factor for severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 virus. This study sought to determine whether obesity is a risk factor for mortality among patients with COVID‐19. Methods The study was a retrospective cohort that included patients with COVID‐19 between March 1 and April 18, 2020. Results A total of 238 patients were included; 218 patients (91.6%) were African American, 113 (47.5%) were male, and the mean age was 58.5 years. Of the included patients, 146 (61.3%) had obesity (BMI > 30 kg/m2), of which 63 (26.5%), 29 (12.2%), and 54 (22.7%) had class 1, 2, and 3 obesity, respectively. Obesity was identified as a predictor for mortality (odds ratio [OR] 1.7 [1.1‐2.8], P = 0.016), as was male gender (OR 5.2 [1.6‐16.5], P = 0.01) and older age (OR 3.6 [2.0‐6.3], P < 0.0005). Obesity (OR 1.7 [1.3‐2.1], P < 0.0005) and older age (OR 1.3 [1.0‐1.6], P = 0.03) were also risk factors for hypoxemia. Conclusions Obesity was found to be a significant predictor for mortality among inpatients with COVID‐19 after adjusting for age, gender, and other comorbidities. Patients with obesity were also more likely to present with hypoxemia.