Journal of Clinical Nutrition & Dietetics

Association of Body Mass Index (BMI) and Severity of COVID-19: A Multi-centric Study from Maharashtra, India

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the global research efforts to identify the risk factors which would lead to severe COVID-19 disease. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between Body Mass Index (BMI) and severity of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Methods: A total of 2820 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 disease in nine government medical colleges, COVID hospitals or COVID care centers of Maharashtra were included in the study. Interviews were conducted on the telephone and counseling was done.

Results: Among 2820, 2442 (86.60%) were asymptomatic or had a mild or moderate illness. More than half of the total COVID-19 positive cases, 1591 (56.41%), were in the normal BMI range, and of these only 183 (11.50%) had severe COVID-19 disease. On the other hand, 647 (22.94%) patients were overweight and 106 (16.38%) had severe COVID-19 disease. Similarly, the patients who were obese, 363 (84.03%) were asymptomatic and 69 (15.97%) had severe COVID-19 disease. Odds ratio for this association was found as 1.5, which indicates that patients who were obese (BMI ≥ 27.5) had one and half times increased odds of progression to severity as compared to patients having normal BMI. This association was found to be statistically significant (p-value <0.05).

Conclusion: Our findings highlight the significant role of BMI in clinical progression of COVID-19 disease. Patients with underweight and obesity experienced more severe outcomes than those of normal weight when being hospitalized with COVID-19 disease.

Author(s): M Talapalliwar, P Menon, W Padole, S Thakur, Mrudula Phadke* and S Saunik

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