Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021;14(6):579-585.
doi: 10.1159/000518386. Epub 2021 Sep 24.

COVID-19 and Obesity: Overlapping of Two Pandemics

Maria Alessandra Gammone  1 , Nicolantonio D'Orazio  1
Affiliations
Review

COVID-19 and Obesity: Overlapping of Two Pandemics

Maria Alessandra Gammone et al. Obes Facts. 2021.

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has recently led to worldwide research efforts to identify subjects at greater risk of developing more severe illness: overall obesity displayed a strong correlation with critical illness and major severity of COVID-19 manifestations.

Summary: Obesity and metabolic disorders are closely linked to chronic systemic inflammation. The adipose tissue constitutes a source of cytokines, which configure a low-grade inflammation and a hypercoagulation status; in addition, diagnosis and care of obese patients are often complicated by excess weight and ventilation difficulties. Key Messages: This review aims to examine the intersection between obesity and adverse outcomes of COVID-19, in order to investigate its preventive and/or therapeutic potential in the management of obesity-related COVID-19 complications.

Keywords: Body fat; COVID-19; Inflammation; Obesity; Pandemic; Thrombosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Multiple pathways potentially linking obesity and visceral fat to increased severity from SARS-CoV-2 infection and CO­VID-19 disease. CV, cardiovascular; FEV1, forced expiratory volume; FVC, forced vital capacity; CRP, C-reactive protein; IL-6, interleukin 6.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Landecho MF, Marin-Oto M, Recalde-Zamacona B, Bilbao I, Frühbeck G. Obesity as an adipose tissue dysfunction disease and a risk factor for infections–Covid-19 as a case study. Eur J Intern Med. 2021 Apr 2;S0953–6205((21)):00097–2. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sanchis-Gomar F, Lavie CJ, Mehra MR, Henry BM, Lippi G. Obesity and outcomes in COVID-19: when an epidemic and pandemic collide. Mayo Clin Proc. 2020;95:1445–53. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gkogkou E, Barnasas G, Vougas K, Trougakos IP. Expression profiling meta-analysis of ACE2 and TMPRSS2, the putative anti-inflammatory receptor and priming protease of SARS-CoV-2 in human cells, and identification of putative modulators. Redox Biol. 2020 Sep;36:101615. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Goossens GH, Dicker D, Farpour-Lambert NJ, Frühbeck G, Mullerova D, Woodward E, et al. Obesity and COVID-19: a perspective from the European Association for the study of obesity on immunological perturbations, therapeutic challenges, and opportunities in obesity. Obes Facts. 2020;13((4)):439–52. - PMC - PubMed
    1. deHeredia FP, Gómez-Martínez S, Marcos A. Obesity, inflammation and the immune system. Proc Nutr Soc. 2012;71:332–8. - PubMed

Publication types