Trial reportPLoS medicine2020
Body mass index and risk of dying from a bloodstream infection: A Mendelian randomization study.
Trial report in PLoS medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Adiposity and infection-related mortality: Mendelian randomization study of 126 000 Mexican adults.International journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Machine learning-based prediction of bloodstream infection in rectal carbapenem-resistantFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Article
- Comparative Analysis of Sepsis Outcomes Across Body Mass Index Groups: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Causality of genetically predicted solid cancers on risk of sepsis: insights from Mendelian randomization.Discover oncology · 2025Article
- Relationship between the geriatric nutritional risk index and sepsis in elderly critically ill patients: a retrospective cohort study.European journal of medical research · 2025Article
- Impact of unintentional weight loss on 30-day mortality in intensive care unit sepsis patients: a retrospective cohort study.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Mendelian randomization analysis reveals higher whole body water mass may increase risk of bacterial infections.BMC medical genomics · 2024Article
- Non-linear Mendelian randomization: detection of biases using negative controls with a focus on BMI, Vitamin D and LDL cholesterol.European journal of epidemiology · 2024Article
- Genetic correlations and causal relationships between cardio-metabolic traits and sepsis.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Causal relationships between obesity-related anthropometric indicators and sepsis risk: a Mendelian-randomization study.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Article
- The relationship between high density lipoprotein cholesterol and sepsis: A clinical and genetic approach.Clinical and translational science · 2023Article
- Cohort Profile Update: The HUNT Study, Norway.International journal of epidemiology · 2023Article
- Insomnia symptoms and risk of bloodstream infections: prospective data from the prospective population-based Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT), Norway.Journal of sleep research · 2023Article
- Determinants and outcomes of bloodstream infections related to obesity.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2022Article
- Body mass index and subfertility: multivariable regression and Mendelian randomization analyses in the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study.Human reproduction (Oxford, England) · 2021Article
- Association Between Insomnia and Migraine Risk: A Case-Control and Bidirectional Mendelian Randomization Study.Pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIn observational studies of the general population, higher body mass index (BMI) has been associated with increased incidence of and mortality from bloodstream infection (BSI) and sepsis. On the other hand, higher BMI has been observed to be apparently protective among patients with infection and sepsis. We aimed to evaluate the causal association of BMI with risk of and mortality from BSI. METHODS AND
findingsWe used a population-based cohort in Norway followed from 1995 to 2017 (the Trøndelag Health Study [HUNT]), and carried out linear and nonlinear Mendelian randomization analyses. Among 55,908 participants, the mean age at enrollment was 48.3 years, 26,324 (47.1%) were men, and mean BMI was 26.3 kg/m2. During a median 21 years of follow-up, 2,547 (4.6%) participants experienced a BSI, and 451 (0.8%) died from BSI. Compared with a genetically predicted BMI of 25 kg/m2, a genetically predicted BMI of 30 kg/m2 was associated with a hazard ratio for BSI incidence of 1.78 (95% CI: 1.40 to 2.27; p < 0.001) and for BSI mortality of 2.56 (95% CI: 1.31 to 4.99; p = 0.006) in the general population, and a hazard ratio for BSI mortality of 2.34 (95% CI: 1.11 to 4.94; p = 0.025) in an inverse-probability-weighted analysis of patients with BSI. Limitations of this study include a risk of pleiotropic effects that may affect causal inference, and that only participants of European ancestry were considered.
conclusionsSupportive of a causal relationship, genetically predicted BMI was positively associated with BSI incidence and mortality in this cohort. Our findings contradict the "obesity paradox," where previous traditional epidemiological studies have found increased BMI to be apparently protective in terms of mortality for patients with BSI or sepsis.
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