J Obes Metab Syndr.
2022 Sep;31(3):277-281. 10.7570/jomes22042.
Association between Obesity and Length of COVID-19 Hospitalization: Unexpected Insights from the American Heart Association National COVID-19 Registry
- Affiliations
-
- 1Division of Hospital Medicine, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- 2Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- 3Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- 4Quantitative Sciences Unit, Center for Biomedical Informatics Research, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- 5Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, USA
- 6Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- KMID: 2534005
- DOI: http://doi.org/10.7570/jomes22042
Abstract
- Background
The mechanism for possible association between obesity and poor clinical outcomes from Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains unclear.
Methods
We analyzed 22,915 adult COVID-19 patients hospitalized from March 2020 to April 2021 to non-intensive care using the American Heart Association National COVID Registry. A multivariable Poisson model adjusted for age, sex, medical history, admission respiratory status, hospitalization characteristics, and laboratory findings was used to calculate length of stay (LOS) as a function of body mass index (BMI). We similarly analyzed 5,327 patients admitted to intensive care for comparison.
Results
Relative to normal BMI subjects, overweight, class I obese, and class II obese patients had approximately half-day reductions in LOS (–0.469 days, P<0.01; –0.480 days, P<0.01; –0.578 days, P<0.01, respectively).
Conclusion
The model identified a dose-dependent, inverse relationship between BMI category and LOS for COVID-19, which was not seen when the model was applied to critically ill patients.
