Have a personal or library account? Click to login
Poor clinical outcomes among hospitalized obese patients with COVID-19 are related to inflammation and not respiratory mechanics Cover

Poor clinical outcomes among hospitalized obese patients with COVID-19 are related to inflammation and not respiratory mechanics

Open Access
|Apr 2025

Figures & Tables

Fig. 1.

Flowchart of study subject selection and clinical outcomes. ICU = Intensive Care Unit; IMV = invasive mechanical ventilation; NMB = neuromuscular blockade.
Flowchart of study subject selection and clinical outcomes. ICU = Intensive Care Unit; IMV = invasive mechanical ventilation; NMB = neuromuscular blockade.

Fig. 2.

Correlations between BMI and inflammatory markers in <60-year-old male and female patients during COVID-19 hospitalization. Simple scatter plots of male and female patients with regression analyses of correlations between BMI and peak inpatient (A) CRP, (B) LDH, (C) ferritin, and (D) D-Dimer. ●: male subjects; ○: female subjects; solid regression line: male subjects; dashed regression line: female subjects. P-values calculated by Pearson Product Moment Correlation. *P<0.05.
Correlations between BMI and inflammatory markers in <60-year-old male and female patients during COVID-19 hospitalization. Simple scatter plots of male and female patients with regression analyses of correlations between BMI and peak inpatient (A) CRP, (B) LDH, (C) ferritin, and (D) D-Dimer. ●: male subjects; ○: female subjects; solid regression line: male subjects; dashed regression line: female subjects. P-values calculated by Pearson Product Moment Correlation. *P<0.05.

Fig. 3.

Correlations between BMI and respiratory physiology parameters in male and female intubated COVID-19 patients. Simple scatter plots of male and female patients with regression analyses of correlations between BMI and (A) minima and maxima static compliances during IMV, and (B) P:F responses to proning in male and female patients. ●: male subjects; ○: female subjects; regression lines represent combined male and female data. P:F response to proning = (P:F ratio after proning – P:F ratio before proning) / P:F ratio before proning X 100%. P-values calculated by Pearson Product Moment Correlation. IMV: invasive mechanical ventilation; P:F = ratio of partial pressure of arterial oxygen (PaO2): fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) of mechanical ventilator.
Correlations between BMI and respiratory physiology parameters in male and female intubated COVID-19 patients. Simple scatter plots of male and female patients with regression analyses of correlations between BMI and (A) minima and maxima static compliances during IMV, and (B) P:F responses to proning in male and female patients. ●: male subjects; ○: female subjects; regression lines represent combined male and female data. P:F response to proning = (P:F ratio after proning – P:F ratio before proning) / P:F ratio before proning X 100%. P-values calculated by Pearson Product Moment Correlation. IMV: invasive mechanical ventilation; P:F = ratio of partial pressure of arterial oxygen (PaO2): fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) of mechanical ventilator.

Demographics and clinical characteristics of cohort

Total (N = 199)Non-obese (N = 133)Obese (N = 66)p-value
Age
  Median (IQR)63 (45, 77)69 (51, 82)53 (41, 65)<0.001

Sex
  Male118 (59%)80 (60%)38 (58%)0.845
  Female81 (41%)53 (40%)28 (42%)0.845

Race/Ethnicity
  Black19 (10%)14 (11%)5 (7%)0.681
  White78 (39%)59 (44%)19 (29%)0.049
  Asian17 (9%)13 (10%)4 (6%)0.540
  Latinx63 (32%)31 (23%)32 (48%)<0.001
  Other22 (11%)16 (12%)6 (9%)0.702

Comorbidities
  No PMHx16 (8%)15 (11%)1 (2%)0.035
Diabetes w/end-organ damage*20 (10%)12 (9%)8 (12%)0.664
Diabetes w/o end-organ damage*41 (21%)26 (20%)15 (23%)0.737
  Hypertension109 (55%)75 (56%)34 (52%)0.618
  Hyperlipidemia76 (38%)53 (40%)23 (35%)0.597
  CKD45 (23%)27 (20%)18 (27%)0.354
  COPD21 (11%)16 (12%)5 (8%)0.473
  CAD44 (22%)30 (23%)14 (21%)0.973
  Cancer4 (2%)4 (3%)0 (0%)0.375
  Asthma28 (14%)18 (14%)10 (15%)0.926
  Atrial arrhythmia19 (10%)14 (11%)5 (8%)0.681
  Myocardial infarction9 (5%)4 (3%)5 (8%)0.272
Congestive heart failure (symptomatic)15 (8%)10 (8%)5 (8%)0.999
  Obstructive sleep apnea16 (8%)4 (3%)12 (18%)<0.001
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jccm-2025-0012 | Journal eISSN: 2393-1817 | Journal ISSN: 2393-1809
Language: English
Page range: 140 - 148
Submitted on: Jul 13, 2024
Accepted on: Feb 5, 2025
Published on: Apr 30, 2025
Published by: University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Targu Mures
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 4 issues per year

© 2025 Jordan N Edwards, Tomas Ganz, Elizabeta Nemeth, Emily J Martin, Nicholas J Jackson, Airie Kim, published by University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Targu Mures
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.