Overweight/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

Published in: PloS one (2020)

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.

Keyphrases

sars cov
weight loss
coronavirus disease
weight gain
metabolic syndrome
respiratory syndrome coronavirus
insulin resistance
physical activity
type diabetes
high fat diet induced
respiratory failure
cardiovascular disease
body mass index
early onset
intensive care unit
atomic force microscopy