Obesity and COVID-19: A Jigsaw Puzzle with Still Missing Pieces

Overview

Journal Clin Obes

Specialty Endocrinology

Date 2020 Oct 19

PMID 33073512

Citations 16

Authors

Konstantinos Michalakis

Grigorios Panagiotou

Ioannis Ilias

Kalliopi Pazaitou-Panayiotou

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Apart from posing various mechanical and medical issues compromising general health, obesity is a major factor for respiratory tract infections, due to specific inflammation and immunological compromise. The burden of obesity on morbidity and mortality of SARS-CoV-2 infection/COVID-19 is considerable. Herein, we aimed to search the literature and present to the readers pathophysiologic pathways that may associate obesity and COVID-19. We present potential mechanisms, which might partly explain why patients with obesity are more prone to suffer from respiratory infections in the context of COVID-19. Better understanding of these pathways could eventually guide management strategies and therapies for COVID-19 in the future.

Citing Articles

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DAmico R, Nagashima S, Carstens L, Bertoldi K, Mataruco S, Honorio DAgostini J Int J Mol Sci. 2025; 26(4).

PMID: 40004007 PMC: 11855377. DOI: 10.3390/ijms26041541.

Obesity as a Risk Factor for the Severity of COVID-19 in Pediatric Patients: Possible Mechanisms-A Narrative Review.

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Body Mass Index as a Predictor of COVID-19 Severity in ICU Patients in Saudi Arabia: A Retrospective Analysis.

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Body Mass Index Trends among a Cohort of Subjects Enrolled in Medication-Assisted Treatment Programmes for Opioid Use Disorder: Racial/Ethnic, Gender, and Age Differences.

Saxena J, Chilakapati R, Attia P, Rosenblum D, Weiss S J Food Nutr Metab. 2024; 5(1).

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Higher body mass index is strongly linked to poor outcomes in adult COVID-19 hospitalizations: A National Inpatient Sample Study.

Elkhapery A, Abdelhay A, Boppana H, Abdalla Z, Mohamed M, Al-Ali O Obes Sci Pract. 2024; 10(1):e692.

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