PLoS ONE (Jan 2020)

Clinical outcomes and inflammatory marker levels in patients with Covid-19 and obesity at an inner-city safety net hospital.

  • Anahita Mostaghim,
  • Pranay Sinha,
  • Catherine Bielick,
  • Selby Knudsen,
  • Indeevar Beeram,
  • Laura F White,
  • Caroline Apovian,
  • Manish Sagar,
  • Natasha S Hochberg

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0243888
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 12
p. e0243888

Abstract

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ObjectivesPatients with Covid-19 and obesity have worse clinical outcomes which may be driven by increased inflammation. This study aimed to characterize the association between clinical outcomes in patients with obesity and inflammatory markers.MethodsWe analyzed data for patients aged ≥18 years admitted with a positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR test. We used multivariate logistic regression to determine the association between BMI and intensive care unit (ICU) transfer and all-cause mortality. Inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein [CRP], lactate dehydrogenase [LDH], ferritin, and D-dimer) were compared between patients with and without obesity (body mass index [BMI] ≥30 kg/m2).ResultsOf 791 patients with Covid-19, 361 (45.6%) had obesity. In multivariate analyses, BMI ≥35 was associated with a higher odds of ICU transfer (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.388 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.074-5.310) and hospital mortality (aOR = 4.3, 95% CI: 1.69-10.82). Compared to those with BMIConclusionsPatients with obesity were more likely to have poor outcomes even without increased inflammation.