•  
  •  
 

Author Credentials

Raj K. Dangol, MBBS; Olga Lurye, MD; Sadaf Mustafa, MD; Lyn Camire, MA, ELS; Krupa Patel, MD; Eshetu Tefera, MS; David S. Weisman, DO

Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5082-8955 (David Weisman)

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Background:

Studies have noted higher COVID-19 mortality with more severe obesity in populations that included a small percentage of Black patients.

Methods:

We retrospectively analyzed COVID-19 outcomes associated with obesity in our largely African American patient population. A total of 1101 symptomatic patients with a positive COVID-19 laboratory test March 5 to June 3, 2020, were categorized into weight groups based on body mass index (BMI). Of these patients, 679 (61.7%) were Black. A total of 355 (32.2%) patients had overweight and 516 (46.9%) had obesity.

Results:

BMI was an independent risk factor for intubation and an independent predictor for ICU length of stay and intubation days. An unexpected observation was favorable outcomes in mild obesity compared with normal weight and more severe obesity, likely a result of older age and higher Charlson comorbidity index in patients with normal BMI compared with patients with mild obesity.

Conclusions:

In a diverse primarily Black population, comorbidities were a concern for adverse COVID-19 outcomes and COVID-19 outcomes were significantly worse with moderate and severe obesity.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

COVID BMI Table 1.docx (14 kB)
Table 1

COVID BMI Table 2.docx (12 kB)
Table 2

COVID BMI Table 3.docx (13 kB)
Table 3

COVID BMI Table 4.docx (13 kB)
Table 4

COVID BMI Table 5.docx (13 kB)
Table 5

COVID BMI Table 6.docx (13 kB)
Table 6

COVID BMI Table 7.docx (13 kB)
Table 7

COVID BMI Table 8.docx (13 kB)
Table 8

Publisher Note

All articles published in ACMRHD are distributed with a Creative Commons CC BY-NC 4.0 license. Under this license, authors hold the copyright to their work and have the right to share or adapt the article with no restrictions, as long as the author(s) and source are cited, and the use is for noncommercial purposes. This policy went into effect November 1, 2023, and applies retroactively to all articles published in ACMRHD prior to that date, as well.

Share

COinS