Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33479538›Full record

ReviewNature reviews. Endocrinology2021

Global pandemics interconnected - obesity, impaired metabolic health and COVID-19.

Norbert Stefan, Andreas L Birkenfeld, Matthias B Schulze

Open access · bronzeAbstract readReview
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Nature reviews. Endocrinology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 227 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
227citing papers in PubMed, 10 pooled it
27.2field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

227 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 452 citations in OpenAlex.

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  18. Weight Loss-Associated Remodeling of Adipose Tissue Immunometabolism.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2025
    Review
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167 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Norbert StefanInstitute of Diabetes Research and Metabolic Diseases (IDM), the Helmholtz Center, Munich, Germany. norbert.stefan@med.uni-tuebingen.de.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2186-9595
Andreas L BirkenfeldInstitute of Diabetes Research and Metabolic Diseases (IDM), the Helmholtz Center, Munich, Germany.
Matthias B SchulzeGerman Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), Neuherberg, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0830-5277
King's College London · GBUniversity Children's Hospital Tübingen · DEUniversity of Potsdam · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Obesity and impaired metabolic health are established risk factors for the non-communicable diseases (NCDs) type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative diseases, cancer and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, otherwise known as metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD). With the worldwide spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), obesity and impaired metabolic health also emerged as important determinants of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Furthermore, novel findings indicate that specifically visceral obesity and characteristics of impaired metabolic health such as hyperglycaemia, hypertension and subclinical inflammation are associated with a high risk of severe COVID-19. In this Review, we highlight how obesity and impaired metabolic health increase complications and mortality in COVID-19. We also summarize the consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection for organ function and risk of NCDs. In addition, we discuss data indicating that the COVID-19 pandemic could have serious consequences for the obesity epidemic. As obesity and impaired metabolic health are both accelerators and consequences of severe COVID-19, and might adversely influence the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, we propose strategies for the prevention and treatment of obesity and impaired metabolic health on a clinical and population level, particularly while the COVID-19 pandemic is present.

Indexed as

COVID-19HumansObesityPandemicsRisk FactorsSARS-CoV-2

Identifiers

PMID33479538
OpenAlexW3122663099

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.