New research uncovers how excess weight not only worsens COVID-19 outcomes but also heightens the chances of contracting the virus in the first place. Study: Obesity and age are transmission risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection among exposed individuals . Image Credit: Halfpoint / Shutterstock In a recent study published in the journal PNAS Nexus , researchers investigated the risk associations between severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection susceptibility and risk factors (notably obesity, age, and comorbidities).
They leveraged an extensive dataset comprising 687,813 patients (72,613 SARS-CoV-2 positive for exposure) from the electronic medical records (EMRs) of the Mass General Brigham's (MGB) database. The study focused on patients tested between March 2020 and January 25, 2021, to avoid potential biases introduced by vaccination, which was not widespread during this period. They found that obesity significantly increased the risk of productive coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in patients exposed to SARS-CoV-2.
These findings add to existing literature demonstrating the enhanced severity of COVID-19 pathology in obese patients, thereby highlighting weight management as a critical preventive measure in the war against the causative agent of the most horrific human pandemic in recent times. However, the study's authors caution that these findings should be interpreted in the context of certain limitations, including reliance on self-report.