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Sacco, V. ; Rauch, B. ; Gar, C. ; Haschka, S. ; Potzel, A. ; Kern-Matschilles, S. ; Banning, F. ; Benz, I. ; Meisel, M. ; Seissler, J. ; Lechner, A.

Overweight/obesity as the potentially most important lifestyle factor associated with signs of pneumonia in COVID-19.

PLoS ONE 15:e0237799 (2020)
Verlagsversion Forschungsdaten DOI PMC
Open Access Gold
Creative Commons Lizenzvertrag
OBJECTIVE: The occurrence of pneumonia separates severe cases of COVID-19 from the majority of cases with mild disease. However, the factors determining whether or not pneumonia develops remain to be fully uncovered. We therefore explored the associations of several lifestyle factors with signs of pneumonia in COVID-19. METHODS: Between May and July 2020, we conducted an online survey of 201 adults in Germany who had recently gone through COVID-19, predominantly as outpatients. Of these, 165 had a PCR-based diagnosis and 36 had a retrospective diagnosis by antibody testing. The survey covered demographic information, eight lifestyle factors, comorbidities and medication use. We defined the main outcome as the presence vs. the absence of signs of pneumonia, represented by dyspnea, the requirement for oxygen therapy or intubation. RESULTS: Signs of pneumonia occurred in 39 of the 165 individuals with a PCR-based diagnosis of COVID-19 (23.6%). Among the lifestyle factors examined, only overweight/obesity was associated with signs of pneumonia (odds ratio 2.68 (1.29-5.59) p = 0.008). The observed association remained significant after multivariate adjustment, with BMI as a metric variable, and also after including the antibody-positive individuals into the analysis. CONCLUSIONS: This exploratory study finds an association of overweight/obesity with signs of pneumonia in COVID-19. This finding suggests that a signal proportional to body fat mass, such as the hormone leptin, impairs the body's ability to clear SARS-CoV-2 before pneumonia develops. This hypothesis concurs with previous work and should be investigated further to possibly reduce the proportion of severe cases of COVID-19.
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Publikationstyp Artikel: Journalartikel
Dokumenttyp Wissenschaftlicher Artikel
Korrespondenzautor
Schlagwörter Influenza; Adults
ISSN (print) / ISBN 1932-6203
Zeitschrift PLoS ONE
Quellenangaben Band: 15, Heft: 11, Seiten: , Artikelnummer: e0237799 Supplement: ,
Verlag Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Verlagsort Lawrence, Kan.
Nichtpatentliteratur Publikationen
Begutachtungsstatus Peer reviewed
Institut(e) Institute of Experimental Genetics (IEG)
Förderungen German Center for Diabetes Research
Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen
LMU Klinikum