The association between obesity with treatment duration, ICU length of stay and the risk of death in critically ill patients with COVID ‐19

• Published in: Endocrinology, diabetes & metabolism Vol. 6; no. 6; p. e458
• Main Authors: Gholamalizadeh, Maryam, Attari, Mohammad, Mousavi, Mahdi, Shekari, Soheila, Salimi, Zahra, Rajabi Harsini, Asma, Zeinolabedin, Mobina, Barzkar, Amin, Mahmoudi, Zahra, Alami, Farkhondeh, Dahka, Samaneh Mirzaei, Gholami, Somayeh, Rahvar, Masoume, Pourtaleb, Masoume, Khoshdooz, Sara, Kalantari, Naser, Doaei, Saeid
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01-11-2023; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: bodyweight; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; ICU; Mortality; obesity; Womens health; United States > US
• ISSN: 2398-9238; 2398-9238
• DOI: 10.1002/edm2.458

Abstract
Background
Despite the confirmed association between higher BMI with increased risk of the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), the association between obesity with mortality in critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) is not clear. The present study aimed to investigate the association between obesity with treatment duration, ICU length of stay, and the risk of death in critically ill patients with COVID‐19.
Methods
This case–control study was performed on 223 patients with COVID‐19 including 148 surviving patients as the control group and 75 eventually dead patients as the case group in Rasht, Iran. Data on demographic factors, comorbidities, anthropometric measurements, the length of hospitalization and the mortality were obtained from patients' medical records.
Results
The mortality rate was significantly associated with weight (OR = 1.04, 95% CI: 1.002–1.083,
p
 = .04), but not with BMI after adjustments for age, gender, length of stay in ICU, chronic diseases and smoking. The results did not change after further adjustments for biochemical and pathological factors.
Conclusions
Weight was positively associated with mortality after controlling for confounding variables. Further studies should consider the patient's body composition such as fat mass to establish the relationship between obesity and COVID‐19 outcomes.