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)
    
    
    
		
		
			
				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
    
 
    
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        Schlagwörter
        Influenza; Adults
    
 
    
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        Sprache
        englisch
    
 
    
        Veröffentlichungsjahr
        2020
    
 
    
        Prepublished im Jahr 
        
    
 
    
        HGF-Berichtsjahr
        2020
    
 
    
    
        ISSN (print) / ISBN
        1932-6203
    
 
    
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	    Band: 15,  
	    Heft: 11,  
	    Seiten: ,  
	    Artikelnummer: e0237799 
	    Supplement: ,  
	
    
 
  
        
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            Verlag
            Public Library of Science (PLoS)
        
 
        
            Verlagsort
            Lawrence, Kan.
        
 
	
        
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        Begutachtungsstatus
        Peer reviewed
    
 
     
    
        POF Topic(s)
        30201 - Metabolic Health
    
 
    
        Forschungsfeld(er)
        Genetics and Epidemiology
    
 
    
        PSP-Element(e)
        G-521500-002
    
 
    
        Förderungen
        German Center for Diabetes Research
Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen
LMU Klinikum
    
 
    
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        Erfassungsdatum
        2020-11-27