Observational studyClinical nutrition ESPEN2022
The impact of body composition on mortality of COVID-19 hospitalized patients: A prospective study on abdominal fat, obesity paradox and sarcopenia.
Observational study in Clinical nutrition ESPEN, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence and prognosis of sarcopenia in acute COVID-19 and long COVID: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Annals of medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis: Malnutrition and In-Hospital Death in Adults Hospitalized with COVID-19.Nutrients · 2023Pooled it
- Factors associated with an unfavorable outcome according to age in patients with COVID-19 admitted to intensive care in mainland France during the first three periods of the pandemic: a nationwide cohort study.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Impact of obesity on COVID-19 CoronaVac and ChAdOx1-S vaccine efficacy.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Body Composition Changes in Hospitalized Patients with Community-Acquired Pneumonia.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Beyond body mass index: exploring the role of visceral adipose tissue in intensive care unit outcomes.BJA open · 2025Review
- Obesity modifies the association of race and COVID-19 mortality: analysis of a retrospective cohort from Brazil.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Independent Risk Factors and Mortality Implications of De Novo Central Nervous System Involvement in Patients Hospitalized with Severe COVID-19: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Article
- Obesity-compromised immunity in post-COVID-19 condition: a critical control point of chronicity.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Review
- Sarcopenia and Mortality in Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Association between Body Mass Index and Hospital Outcomes for COVID-19 Patients: A Nationwide Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Review
- Ischemic strokes in COVID-19: risk factors, obesity paradox, and distinction between trigger and causal association.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Article
- Obesity Paradox in Lung Diseases: What Explains It?Obesity facts · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
16 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND &
aimsObesity has been described as a predisposing risk factor to severe forms of COVID-19, but conflicting results are emerging on its real impact on the mortality of COVID-19. We aimed to compare clinical outcomes and mortality among COVID-19 patients according to obesity, metabolic syndrome and adiposity distribution.
methodsWe conducted a prospective observational study of all consecutive adult patients with a confirmed diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection admitted to the Infectious Diseases Clinic at Udine Hospital, Italy, from January 2021 to February 2021. At admission, the study population was submitted to specific anthropometric, laboratory and bioimpedance analysis (BIA) measurements and divided into five groups according to: 1) BMI < or >30 kg/m
resultsA total of 195 patients were enrolled in the study. The mean age of patients was 71 years (IQR 61-80) and 64.6% (126) were male. The most common comorbidities were hypertension (55.9%) and MS (55.4%). Overall mortality was 19.5%. Abdominal adiposity, measured both with WC and with BIA, and SP were significantly associated with need for increased ventilator support (p = 0.013 for WC; p = 0.037, 0.027 and 0.009 for VAT; p = 0.004 and 0.036 for FMI; and p = 0.051 for SP), but not with ICU admission (WC p = 0.627, VAT p = 0.153, FMI p = 0.519 and SP p = 0.938), length of stay (WC p = 0.345, VAT p = 0.650, FMI p = 0.159 and SP p = 0.992) and mortality (WC p = 0.277, VAT p = 0.533, FMI p = 0.957 and SP p = 0.211). Obesity and MS did not discriminate for the intensity of ventilatory outcome (p = 0.142 and p = 0.198, respectively), ICU admission (p = 0.802 and p = 0.947, respectively), length of stay (p = 0.471 and p = 0.768, respectively) and mortality (p = 0.495 and p = 0.268, respectively). We did not find significant differences in inflammatory markers and secondary complications within the five groups.
conclusionsIn patients admitted with COVID-19, increased WC, visceral abdominal fat and SP are associated with higher need for ventilatory support. However, obesity, MS, SP and abdominal adiposity are not sensitive predictive factors for mortality.
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