Obesity, walking pace and risk of severe COVID-19 and mortality: analysis of UK Biobank
Thomas Yates, Cameron Razieh, Francesco Zaccardi, Alex V Rowlands, Samuel Seidu, Melanie J Davies, Kamlesh Khunti
International Journal of Obesity, doi:10.1038/s41366-021-00771-z
Obesity is an emerging risk factor for coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). Simple measures of physical fitness, such as self-reported walking pace, may also be important risk markers. This analysis includes 412,596 UK Biobank participants with linked COVID-19 data (median age at linkage = 68 years, obese = 24%, median number of comorbidities = 1). As of August 24th 2020, there were 1001 cases of severe (in-hospital) disease and 336 COVID-19 deaths. Compared to normal weight individuals, the adjusted odds ratio (OR) of severe COVID-19 in overweight and obese individuals was 1.
Author contributions Concept and design: TY, CR, FZ, KK, Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: All authors. Drafting of the manuscript: TY. Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: All authors. Statistical analysis: TY. Statistical support: FZ.
Compliance with ethical standards Conflict of interest Prof. Kamlesh Khunti is Chair of the UK SAGE subgroup on ethnicity and COVID-19. No other conflicts have been declared. Financial support This research was supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Leicester Biomedical Research Centre, the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration -East Midlands, and a grant from the UKRI-DHSC COVID-19 Rapid Response Rolling Call (MR/V020536/1). The funder had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication. Publisher's note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
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