SynthesisEpidemiology and infection2021
Obesity is associated with severe COVID-19 but not death: a dose-response meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Epidemiology and infection, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 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
16 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Risk of bias and certainty of evidence on the association between obesity and mortality in patients with SARS-COV-2: An umbrella review of meta-analyses.Clinical nutrition ESPEN · 2023Pooled it
- Obesity augments the disease burden in COVID-19: Updated data from an umbrella review.Clinical obesity · 2022Pooled it
- Observational
- Codeveloping a Novel Intervention for People With Post-COVID Condition: The Balance-ACT Study.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2025Article
- A descriptive, retrospective single-centre study of air-leak syndrome in intensive care unit patients with COVID-19.Acta anaesthesiologica Scandinavica · 2025Observational
- COVID-19 and Comorbidities: What Has Been Unveiled by Metabolomics?Metabolites · 2024Review
- Predictive biomarkers of mortality in patients with severe COVID-19 hospitalized in intensive care unit.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Article
- Influence of obesity on mortality, mechanical ventilation time and mobility of critical patients with COVID-19.Critical care science · 2024Article
- Assessment of the ABCFrontiers in medicine · 2023Article
- Association of body mass index with COVID-19 related in-hospital death.Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland) · 2022Article
- Molecular and pro-inflammatory aspects of COVID-19: The impact on cardiometabolic health.Biochimica et biophysica acta. Molecular basis of disease · 2022Review
- Body mass index and clinical outcome of severe COVID-19 patients with acute hypoxic respiratory failure: Unravelling the "obesity paradox" phenomenon.Clinical nutrition ESPEN · 2022Article
- BMI, sex and outcomes in hospitalised patients in western Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Review
- The Combined Use of Cytokine Serum Values with Laboratory Parameters Improves Mortality Prediction of COVID-19 Patients: The Interleukin-15-to-Albumin Ratio.Microorganisms · 2021Article
- Poor Metabolic Health Increases COVID-19-Related Mortality in the UK Biobank Sample.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2021Article
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
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic is spreading globally. Studies revealed that obesity may affect the progression and prognosis of COVID-19 patients. The aim of the meta-analysis is to identify the prevalence and impact of obesity on COVID-19. Studies on obese COVID-19 patients were obtained by searching PubMed, Cochrane Library databases and Web of Science databases, up to date to 5 June 2020. And the prevalence rate and the odds ratio (OR) of obesity with 95% confidence interval (CI) were used as comprehensive indicators for analysis using a random-effects model. A total of 6081 patients in 11 studies were included. The prevalence of obesity in patients with COVID-19 was 30% (95% CI 21-39%). Obese patients were 1.79 times more likely to develop severe COVID-19 than non-obese patients (OR 1.79, 95% CI 1.52-2.11, P < 0.0001, I2 = 0%). However obesity was not associated with death in COVID-19 patients (OR 1.05, 95% CI 0.65-1.71, P = 0.84, I2 = 66.6%). In dose-response analysis, it was estimated that COVID-19 patients had a 16% increased risk of invasive mechanical ventilation (OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.10-1.23, P < 0.0001) and a 20% increased risk of admission to ICU (OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.11-1.30, P < 0.0001) per 5 kg/m2 increase in BMI. In conclusion, obesity in COVID-19 patients is associated with severity, but not mortality.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.