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Association of obesity with postacute sequelae of COVID ‐19
Author(s) -
Aminian Ali,
Bena James,
Pantalone Kevin M.,
Burguera Bartolome
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
diabetes, obesity and metabolism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.445
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1463-1326
pISSN - 1462-8902
DOI - 10.1111/dom.14454
Subject(s) - medicine , obesity , body mass index , covid-19 , intensive care unit , risk factor , severity of illness , disease , pediatrics , emergency medicine , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Obesity is a major risk factor for the development of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) infection and mortality. However, it is not known whether patients with obesity are at a greater risk of developing postacute sequelae of COVID‐19 (PASC). In a median follow‐up time of 8 months and counting from 30 days following a positive viral test of 2839 patients who did not require intensive care unit admission and survived the acute phase of COVID‐19, 1230 (43%) patients required medical diagnostic tests, 1255 (44%) patients underwent hospital admission, and 29 (1%) patients died. Compared with patients with a normal body mass index (BMI), the risk of hospital admission was 28% and 30% higher in patients with moderate and severe obesity, respectively. The need for diagnostic tests to assess different medical problems, compared with patients with normal BMI, was 25% and 39% higher in patients with moderate and severe obesity, respectively. The findings of this study suggest that moderate and severe obesity (BMI ≥ 35 kg/m 2 ) are associated with a greater risk of PASC.