ArticleDiabetes, obesity & metabolism2021
Obesity as a driver of international differences in COVID-19 death rates.
Article in Diabetes, obesity & metabolism, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- The J-shaped relationship between body mass index and mortality in patients with COVID-19: A dose-response meta-analysis.Diabetes, obesity & metabolism · 2021Pooled it
- Heterogeneity of the Association Between Obesity and COVID-19 Mortality and the Roles of Policy Interventions: U.S. National-Level Analysis.AJPM focus · 2025Article
- Does sex modify the effect of pre-pandemic body mass index on the risk of Long COVID? Evidence from the longitudinal analysis of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2024Article
- The politics of COVID-19: Differences between U.S. red and blue states in COVID-19 regulations and deaths.Health policy OPEN · 2023Article
- Association of government effectiveness, logistics performance, IT systems and income with COVID-19 mortality.Heliyon · 2023Article
- Impact of good governance, economic growth and universal health coverage on COVID-19 infection and case fatality rates in Africa.Health research policy and systems · 2022Article
- Socio-cultural Correlates of the COVID-19 Outcomes.Journal of epidemiology and global health · 2022Article
- The Protective Effect of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Vaccination on Postacute Sequelae of COVID-19: A Multicenter Study From a Large National Health Research Network.Open forum infectious diseases · 2022Article
- Impact of environmental and individual factors on COVID-19 mortality in children and adolescents in Mexico: An observational study.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2022Article
- Hospital management of hyperglycemia in the context of COVID-19: evidence-based clinical considerations.Diabetology & metabolic syndrome · 2022Review
- Knowing Well, Being Well: well-being born of understanding: The COVID Pandemic as Mosaic.American journal of health promotion : AJHP · 2022Article
- Survival analysis and mortality predictors of COVID-19 in a pediatric cohort in Mexico.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Review
- Moving Toward Health Policy that Respects Both Science and People Living with Obesity.The Nursing clinics of North America · 2021Review
- A global country-level analysis of the relationship between obesity and COVID-19 cases and mortality.Diabetes, obesity & metabolism · 2021Article
- Association of obesity with postacute sequelae of COVID-19.Diabetes, obesity & metabolism · 2021Article
- Obesity as a driver of international differences in COVID-19 death rates.Diabetes, obesity & metabolism · 2021Article
- Socio-demographic and health factors drive the epidemic progression and should guide vaccination strategies for best COVID-19 containment.Results in physics · 2021Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimTo determine what proportion of the inter-country variation in death rates can be explained in terms of obesity rates and other known risk factors for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). MATERIALS AND
methodsCOVID-19 death rates from 30 industrialized countries were analysed using linear regression models. Covariates modelled population density, the age structure of the population, obesity, population health, per capita gross domestic product (GDP), ethnic diversity, national temperature and the delay in the government imposing virus control measures.
resultsThe multivariable regression model explained 63% of the inter-country variation in COVID-19 death rates. The initial model was optimized using stepwise selection. In descending order of absolute size of model coefficient, the covariates in the optimized model were the obesity rate, the hypertension rate, population density, life expectancy, the percentage of the population aged older than 65 years, the percentage of the population aged younger than 15 years, the diabetes rate, the delay in imposing national COVID-19 control measures, per capita GDP and mean temperature (with a negative coefficient indicating an association between higher national temperatures and lower death rates).
conclusionsA large proportion of the inter-country variation in COVID-19 death rates can be explained by differences in obesity rates, population health, population densities, age demographics, delays in imposing national virus control measures, per capita GDP and climate. Some of the unexplained variation is probably attributable to inter-country differences in the definition of a COVID-19 death and in the completeness of the recording of COVID-19 deaths.
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