COVID-19 and Obesity: Epidemiology, Pathogenesis and Treatment

Xinyu Zhu; Liu Yang; Kai Huang

doi:10.2147/DMSO.S285197

COVID-19 and Obesity: Epidemiology, Pathogenesis and Treatment

Diabetes Metab Syndr Obes. 2020 Dec 14:13:4953-4959. doi: 10.2147/DMSO.S285197. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Xinyu Zhu^#^{1

2}, Liu Yang^#^{1

2}, Kai Huang^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cardiology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, People's Republic of China.
² Clinical Center for Human Genomic Research, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, People's Republic of China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

The growing prevalence of overweight and obesity has been a worldwide public health issue. During the COVID-19 pandemic, obesity is associated with a higher risk of severity and a worse clinical outcome of SARS-COV-2 infection. This may be because of the chronic low-grade inflammation, impaired immune response and metabolic disorders in obese patients. In this narrative review, we have summarized the association between obesity and COVID-19 and discussed the potential pathogenesis and treatment in these patients. This work may provide practical suggestions on the clinical management of obese COVID-19 patients.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-COV-2; obesity.

Publication types

Review