Abstract
Since December 2019, COVID-19 has aroused global attention. Studies show the link between obesity and severe outcome of influenza and COVID-19. Thus, we aimed to compare the impacts of obesity on the severity and mortality of influenza and COVID-19 by performing a meta-analysis. A systematic search was performed in MEDLINE, EMASE, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Web of Science from January 2009 to July 2020. The protocol was registered onto PROSPERO (CRD42020201461). After selection, 46 studies were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were analyzed. We found obesity was a risk factor for the severity and mortality of influenza (ORsevere outcome = 1.56, CI: 1.28-1.90; ORmortality = 1.99, CI: 1.15-3.46). For COVID-19, obesity was a significant risk factor only for severe outcome (OR = 2.07, CI: 1.53-2.81) but not for mortality (OR = 1.57, CI: 0.85-2.90). Compared with obesity, morbid obesity was linked with a higher risk for the severity and mortality of both influenza (OR = 1.40, CI: 1.10-1.79) and COVID-19 (OR = 3.76, CI: 2.67-5.28). Thus, obesity should be recommended as a risk factor for the prognosis assessment of COVID-19. Special monitoring and earlier treatment should be implemented in patients with obesity and COVID-19.
Highlights
Since December 2019, countries globally have been suffering from the spread of COVID-19, which is known as SARS-CoV-2 [1, 2]
A total of 4,023,895 patients were included for the studies on influenza, and 9,787 patients were included in the COVID-19 studies
Our results show that patients with obesity presented higher mortality of influenza (OR: 1.99, 95% confidence intervals (CIs): 1.15-3.46, I2: 82.7%, n=7)
Summary
Since December 2019, countries globally have been suffering from the spread of COVID-19, which is known as SARS-CoV-2 [1, 2]. The latest information indicates that there are more than 48 million COVID-19 cases around the world, according to the data on November 6, 2020. Based on the 1918 “Spanish” influenza pandemic and 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic [3], studies show the close relationship between obesity and virus infection as well as mortality [4, 5]. Special attention should be paid to obese patients. Due to the prolonged pandemic of COVID-19, tons of expenses have been spent on medical fields, which has influenced the social economy extremely [6]. Investigating the influencing factors and susceptible population are the most
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