Overweight/obesity as the potentially most important lifestyle factor associated with signs of pneumonia in COVID-19.
<h4>Objective</h4>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 fact...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2020-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237799 |
| _version_ | 1819128799945555968 |
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| author | Vanessa Sacco Barbara Rauch Christina Gar Stefanie Haschka Anne L Potzel Stefanie Kern-Matschilles Friederike Banning Irina Benz Mandy Meisel Jochen Seissler Andreas Lechner |
| author_facet | Vanessa Sacco Barbara Rauch Christina Gar Stefanie Haschka Anne L Potzel Stefanie Kern-Matschilles Friederike Banning Irina Benz Mandy Meisel Jochen Seissler Andreas Lechner |
| author_sort | Vanessa Sacco |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <h4>Objective</h4>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.<h4>Methods</h4>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.<h4>Results</h4>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.<h4>Conclusions</h4>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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T08:33:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ce9a2eba510c4f5e9f53df90aa760ca4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T08:33:34Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-ce9a2eba510c4f5e9f53df90aa760ca42022-12-21T18:32:25ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032020-01-011511e023779910.1371/journal.pone.0237799Overweight/obesity as the potentially most important lifestyle factor associated with signs of pneumonia in COVID-19.Vanessa SaccoBarbara RauchChristina GarStefanie HaschkaAnne L PotzelStefanie Kern-MatschillesFriederike BanningIrina BenzMandy MeiselJochen SeisslerAndreas Lechner<h4>Objective</h4>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.<h4>Methods</h4>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.<h4>Results</h4>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.<h4>Conclusions</h4>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.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237799 |
| spellingShingle | Vanessa Sacco Barbara Rauch Christina Gar Stefanie Haschka Anne L Potzel Stefanie Kern-Matschilles Friederike Banning Irina Benz Mandy Meisel Jochen Seissler Andreas Lechner Overweight/obesity as the potentially most important lifestyle factor associated with signs of pneumonia in COVID-19. PLoS ONE |
| title | Overweight/obesity as the potentially most important lifestyle factor associated with signs of pneumonia in COVID-19. |
| title_full | Overweight/obesity as the potentially most important lifestyle factor associated with signs of pneumonia in COVID-19. |
| title_fullStr | Overweight/obesity as the potentially most important lifestyle factor associated with signs of pneumonia in COVID-19. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Overweight/obesity as the potentially most important lifestyle factor associated with signs of pneumonia in COVID-19. |
| title_short | Overweight/obesity as the potentially most important lifestyle factor associated with signs of pneumonia in COVID-19. |
| title_sort | overweight obesity as the potentially most important lifestyle factor associated with signs of pneumonia in covid 19 |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237799 |
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