Risk factors associated with COVID-19 in obese patients treated at a hospital in Western Bahia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12957/demetra.2025.83144Keywords:
COVID-19. Obesity. Risk factors. Hospitalization.Abstract
Objective: To identify the risk factors associated with COVID-19 in patients with obesity. Methods: This is a retrospective study based on data collected from the medical records of hospitalized patients diagnosed with COVID-19 between January 2020 and February 2022. Information was collected on nutritional diagnosis based on anthropometric measurements of body weight and height, self-reported variables at admission by the patient or guardian, personal data, medical history, and clinical data. Statistical tests of association were used to verify the relationship between the independent variables and obesity, using Poisson regression models. Results: The prevalence of obesity was 40.2% in the 549 patients studied. An association was found between obesity and the number of comorbidities (p=0.001). Regarding the symptoms and clinical aspects of the patients, there was a significant association between obesity and the use of extracorporeal oxygenation (p=0.043). There was an inverse association between obesity and age, with obese patients being 1.88 times more likely to have cardiovascular diseases (95%CI 1.415; 2.500) and 1.31 times more likely to have respiratory distress (95%CI 1.046; 1.732). Conclusions: The number of comorbidities, coexistence of cardiovascular diseases, respiratory distress, and use of extracorporeal oxygenation were associated with obesity in these patients. In addition, it was found that the cases of COVID-19 and obesity in this group were mainly adults.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Karenn Machado da Silva e Silva, Jéssica Oliveira de Jesus, Evellyn Dayana Vitória Rocha, Danielle Cristina Guimarães da Silva
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