ArticleMetabolism: clinical and experimental2020
The role of visceral adiposity in the severity of COVID-19: Highlights from a unicenter cross-sectional pilot study in Germany.
Article in Metabolism: clinical and experimental, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 123 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
123 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 191 citations in OpenAlex.
- The association of overweight, obesity, and long-term obesity with SARS-CoV-2 infection: a meta-analysis of 9 population-based cohorts from the Netherlands Cohorts Consortium.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2025Pooled it
- Association of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Metabolic-Associated Fatty Liver Disease with COVID-19-Related Intensive Care Unit Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Pooled it
- Prevalence and clinical implications of abnormal body composition phenotypes in patients with COVID-19: a systematic review.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2023Pooled it
- Association of Obesity With COVID-19 Severity and Mortality: An Updated Systemic Review, Meta-Analysis, and Meta-Regression.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Pooled it
- Visceral adiposity, subcutaneous adiposity, and severe coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19): Systematic review and meta-analysis.Clinical nutrition ESPEN · 2021Pooled it
- Association of body mass index (BMI) with critical COVID-19 and in-hospital mortality: A dose-response meta-analysis.Metabolism: clinical and experimental · 2021Pooled it
- Visceral Adiposity Elevates the Risk of Critical Condition in COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2021Pooled it
- Obesity in patients with COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Metabolism: clinical and experimental · 2020Pooled it
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- Effects of very low volume high intensity versus moderate intensity interval training in obese metabolic syndrome patients: a randomized controlled study.Scientific reports · 2021Trial
- Deep learning-derived abdominal adiposity phenotypes and 28-day mortality in sepsis.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2026Article
- Chronic viral infection aggravates white adipose tissue dysfunction and liver pathology in obesity.Molecular metabolism · 2026Article
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- Article
- Identification of a High Visceral Adiposity Phenotype: A Cluster Analysis-Based Stratification of NAFLD Risk in the Elderly.Clinical interventions in aging · 2026Article
- Predictive factors for spontaneous dislodgement of percutaneous nephrostomies for malignant ureteral obstruction.Abdominal radiology (New York) · 2025Article
- Assessment of the Relationship between Pre-Existing Muscle Atrophy, Subcutaneous Fat Volume, and the Prognosis of COVID-19.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- The effect of pre-existing sarcopenia on outcomes of critically ill patients treated for COVID-19.Journal of critical care medicine (Universitatea de Medicina si Farmacie din Targu-Mures) · 2025Article
- Is visceral fat thickness related to outcomes in cancer patients with pulmonary embolism?Revista da Associacao Medica Brasileira (1992) · 2025Article
63 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsOverall obesity has recently been established as an independent risk factor for critical illness in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The role of fat distribution and especially that of visceral fat, which is often associated with metabolic syndrome, remains unclear. Therefore, this study aims at investigating the association between fat distribution and COVID-19 severity.
methodsThirty patients with COVID-19 and a mean age of 65.6 ± 13.1 years from a level-one medical center in Berlin, Germany, were included in the present cross-sectional analysis. COVID-19 was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from nasal and throat swabs. A severe clinical course of COVID-19 was defined by hospitalization in the intensive care unit (ICU) and/or invasive mechanical ventilation. Fat was measured at the level of the first lumbar vertebra on routinely acquired low-dose chest computed tomography (CT).
resultsAn increase in visceral fat area (VFA) by ten square centimeters was associated with a 1.37-fold higher likelihood of ICU treatment and a 1.32-fold higher likelihood of mechanical ventilation (adjusted for age and sex). For upper abdominal circumference, each additional centimeter of circumference was associated with a 1.13-fold higher likelihood of ICU treatment and a 1.25-fold higher likelihood of mechanical ventilation.
conclusionsOur proof-of-concept study suggests that visceral adipose tissue and upper abdominal circumference specifically increase the likelihood of COVID-19 severity. CT-based quantification of visceral adipose tissue and upper abdominal circumference in routine chest CTs may therefore be a simple tool for risk assessment in COVID-19 patients.
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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.