ReviewCurrent obesity reports2020
Is There an Obesity Paradox in Critical Illness? Epidemiologic and Metabolic Considerations.
Review in Current obesity reports, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 67 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
67 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 169 citations in OpenAlex.
- Postdiagnosis body fatness, weight change and breast cancer prognosis: Global Cancer Update Program (CUP global) systematic literature review and meta-analysis.International journal of cancer · 2023Pooled it
- Obesity is associated with severe COVID-19 but not death: a dose-response meta-analysis.Epidemiology and infection · 2021Pooled it
- A nomogram to predict prolonged stay of obesity patients with sepsis in ICU: Relevancy for predictive, personalized, preventive, and participatory healthcare strategies.Frontiers in public health · 2022Trial
- Article
- Article
- Association between body mass index and mortality in intensive care unit patients with sepsis: A retrospective cohort study.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Triglyceride-Glucose Index Modifies Mortality Risk Across Body Mass Index Strata in Critically Ill Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Analysis of the MIMIC-IV Database.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Association between anthropometric indices and mortality risk among individuals with depression: A population-based cohort study.The Journal of international medical research · 2026Article
- Right ventricular function in pulmonary hypertension and obesity: a cross-sectional cohort study with survival follow-up.Clinical research in cardiology : official journal of the German Cardiac Society · 2026Article
- Do Obesity Classifications Create the Obesity Paradox? A Scoping Review of Obesity Definitions Applied in Sepsis Research.Clinical obesity · 2026Article
- Association between triglyceride glucose-body mass index and all-cause mortality in patients with sepsis: Evidence from a retrospective cohort study.The Journal of international medical research · 2026Observational
- Sarcopenia and sepsis fuel a self-perpetuating cycle of immunometabolism decline.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Mortality predictors, hepatic involvement patterns, and the steatotic liver paradox in 1,484 hospitalized Dengue patients.PloS one · 2026Article
- Longitudinal trajectories of physical fitness in Chinese college students: a multi-group latent growth curve analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Metabolomic Profiling in Ischemic Stroke: Unraveling the Influence of Obesity and Identifying Potential Biomarkers UsingMolecular neurobiology · 2025Article
- The role of adipose tissue in critical illness-induced skeletal muscle wasting-new considerations for treatment approaches.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2025Review
- Beyond body mass index: exploring the role of visceral adipose tissue in intensive care unit outcomes.BJA open · 2025Review
- Article
- The association between triglyceride glucose-body mass index and mortality in critically ill patients with respiratory failure: insights from ICU data.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Increased fat accumulation may be associated with severe muscle wasting in critically ill patients: a prospective observational study.Scientific reports · 2025Observational
7 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purpose of reviewObesity represents a global epidemic with serious implications in public health due to its increasing prevalence and its known association with a high morbidity and mortality burden. However, a growing number of data support a survival benefit of obesity in critical illness. This review summarizes current evidence regarding the obesity paradox in critical illness, discusses methodological issues and metabolic implications, and presents potential pathophysiologic mechanisms. RECENT
findingsData from meta-analyses and recent studies corroborate the obesity-related survival benefit in critically ill patients as well as in selected populations such as patients with sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome, but not trauma. However, this finding warrants a cautious interpretation due to certain methodological limitations of these studies, such as the retrospective design, possible selection bias, the use of BMI as an obesity index, and inadequate adjustment for confounding variables. Main pathophysiologic mechanisms related to obesity that could explain this phenomenon include higher energy reserves, inflammatory preconditioning, anti-inflammatory immune profile, endotoxin neutralization, adrenal steroid synthesis, renin-angiotensin system activation, cardioprotective metabolic effects, and prevention of muscle wasting. The survival benefit of obesity in critical illness is supported from large meta-analyses and recent studies. Due to important methodological limitations, more prospective studies are needed to further elucidate this finding, while future research should focus on the pathophysiologic role of adipose tissue in critical illness.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.