Obesity is Associated with Severe Forms of COVID-19.

Plain Language Summary

One of the emerging findings of the COVID-19 pandemic is a prevalence of obesity and the severity of SARS-Cov-2 suffered by patients. Findings from this French seminal study reports a higher number of invasive mechanical ventilation in patients at Lille hospital with severe obesity (28.2%) with a BMI ≥35 kg/m2 versus lean patients < 25 kg/m2. At the time of print there were still 37% of these obese patients in ICU, in need of longer treatment than lean patients. Data from a Lyon hospital showed a lower number of obesity patients admitted into ICU at 11.3%, however this correlates with geographical differences in obesity levels. There were also differences in the medical approach between hospitals with Lyon favouring high-flow oxygen therapy through a nasal cannula with only the most severe patients mechanically ventilated. The differences in therapy raises the question whether patients with severe obesity (BMI ≥35 kg/m2) would benefit from an earlier intervention using invasive mechanical ventilation to help reduce the overall time spent in ICU.