Obesity ‑ a risk factor for increased COVID‑19 prevalence, severity and lethality (Review)

Petrakis, Dimitris E.; Margină, Denisa; Tsarouhas, Konstantinos; Tekos, Fotios; Stan, Miriana; Nikitovic, Dragana; Kouretas, Demetrios; Spandidos, Demetrios A.; Tsatsakis, Aristidis

doi:10.3892/mmr.2020.11127

Cited by 344 publications

(351 citation statements)

References 162 publications

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“…This result is different from previous studies, which may be caused by low proportion of patients with underlying diseases or critically ill patients included in our study. After logistic regression analysis between severe and non-severe cases, we found that age and BMI were independent risk factors, there was a positive correlation between male sex and BMI, which might contribute to the fact that male group had more patients with severe pneumonia and testi ed the research conclusions of Cai Q and Petrakis D [27,28] . Ttorio Emanuele Bianchi conducted a meta-analysis and found that low testosterone levels were associated with high levels of adipocytokines and in ammatory responses.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

Sex Differences in Clinical Characteristics and Risk Factors for Disease Severity of Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19 in Beijing

Wang

Cao

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background: Recent studies reported that sex differences in patients with coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). However the predictive value of sex differences in disease severity were less studied by previous scholars. Methods: All adults (≥18 years) diagnosed with COVID-19 and admitted to Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University (admission date from January 13 to March 19, 2020) were included in samples. Data analyzed in this study included epidemiological, demographic, comorbidities, initial symptoms and signs, laboratory findings, imaging study, disease severity and in-hospital mortality. Results: A total of 185 inpatients were enrolled in the study, among whom 95 patients are males (51.4%). The mean age of all patients was 41 years. Based on the hospital record, the duration from symptoms initiation to hospital admission was longer for men than that for women. Moreover, the mean BMI of males was relatively higher compared to females (25.45vs22.29, p<.001). In addition, the proportion of male patients with CHD, NAFLD, smoking and drinking history was higher than females. During the hospital stay, compared to female patients, male patients were more prone to develop symptoms such as high fever, cough, and chill. Higher levels of AST, CK, CRP and FIB were also observed in male patients. Following this fact, more patients with abnormal CT activities, severe and critical symptoms were developed in male group than females. However, there was no difference in complications and outcome between two groups. By analyzing data comprehensively, we found out that age (analyzed in quartiles, OR: 1.087; 95% CI: 1.038–1.139; p <.001) and BMI (OR: 1.250; 95% CI: 1.046–1.493; p =.014) could be used to help predict disease severity. Conclusions: In this cohort of hospitalized patients in Beijing, male patients developed more clinical symptoms, obtained more abnormal laboratory test results, and showed higher rates in severity of COVID-19. Other than that, the severity of COVID-19 was positively correlated with age and BMI independently.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

Sex Differences in Clinical Characteristics and Risk Factors for Disease Severity of Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19 in Beijing

Wang

Cao

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…Last, but not least, our findings may be relevant for assessing high-risk populations susceptible to adverse consequences of COVID-19, including obese ( 145 , 146 ), hypertensive ( 4 , 10 , 12 ), and diabetic patients ( 13 ). Shared inflammatory machinery, activated by acute infectious entities and exacerbated by chronic comorbidities with active inflammation, may underlie these associations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

The Neat Dance of COVID-19: NEAT1, DANCR, and Co-Modulated Cholinergic RNAs Link to Inflammation

2020

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The COVID-19 pandemic exerts inflammation-related parasympathetic complications and post-infection manifestations with major inter-individual variability. To seek the corresponding transcriptomic origins for the impact of COVID-19 infection and its aftermath consequences, we sought the relevance of long and short non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) for susceptibility to COVID-19 infection. We selected inflammation-prone men and women of diverse ages among the cohort of Genome Tissue expression (GTEx) by mining RNA-seq datasets from their lung, and blood tissues, followed by quantitative qRT-PCR, bioinformatics-based network analyses and thorough statistics compared to brain cell culture and infection tests with COVID-19 and H1N1 viruses. In lung tissues from 57 inflammation-prone, but not other GTEx donors, we discovered sharp declines of the lung pathology-associated ncRNA DANCR and the nuclear paraspeckles forming neuroprotective ncRNA NEAT1. Accompanying increases in the acetylcholine-regulating transcripts capable of controlling inflammation co-appeared in SARS-CoV-2 infected but not H1N1 influenza infected lung cells. The lung cells-characteristic DANCR and NEAT1 association with inflammation-controlling transcripts could not be observed in blood cells, weakened with age and presented sex-dependent links in GTEx lung RNA-seq dataset. Supporting active involvement in the inflammatory risks accompanying COVID-19, DANCR’s decline associated with decrease of the COVID-19-related cellular transcript ACE2 and with sex-related increases in coding transcripts potentiating acetylcholine signaling. Furthermore, transcription factors (TFs) in lung, brain and cultured infected cells created networks with the candidate transcripts, indicating tissue-specific expression patterns. Supporting links of post-infection inflammatory and cognitive damages with cholinergic mal-functioning, man and woman-originated cultured cholinergic neurons presented differentiation-related increases of DANCR and NEAT1 targeting microRNAs. Briefly, changes in ncRNAs and TFs from inflammation-prone human lung tissues, SARS-CoV-2-infected lung cells and man and woman-derived differentiated cholinergic neurons reflected the inflammatory pathobiology related to COVID-19. By shifting ncRNA differences into comparative diagnostic and therapeutic profiles, our RNA-sequencing based Resource can identify ncRNA regulating candidates for COVID-19 and its associated immediate and predicted long-term inflammation and neurological complications, and sex-related therapeutics thereof. Our findings encourage diagnostics of involved tissue, and further investigation of NEAT1-inducing statins and anti-cholinergic medications in the COVID-19 context.

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“…Of the 37 countries in the world with high levels of child stunting (undernutrition), anemia in women of child-bearing age (micro-nutrient deficiency), and adult obesity (over-nutrition), 27 are in Africa (Global Nutrition Report 2020). Obesity, diabetes, and hypertension have been found to be significant comorbidities of COVID-19, and in the African context, a high proportion of recorded deaths have had one or more of these comorbidities (Petrakis et al 2020; IOL Reporter 2020).…”

Section: Utilization: the Infrastructure For Healthy Food Preparationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Vulnerability and Resilience of African Food Systems, Food Security, and Nutrition in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Moseley¹,

Battersby²

2020

Afr. Stud. Rev.

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As the COVID-19 pandemic rages across the globe, ebbing and flowing from one region to the next, new infections and deaths continue to rise (Johns Hopkins 2020). Some of the first documented cases in Africa occurred in areas frequented by foreign tourists. Early on, the disease also circulated among Africa’s jet-setting political classes that had spent time in other regions of the world with higher infection rates. Since then, infections have taken off in the continent’s urban areas that are better connected globally via trade and travel. From there, it has spread to smaller cities, towns, and then to rural areas, a process known as hierarchical diffusion (Moseley 2020a). Unfortunately, there is another scourge that accompanies COVID-19, and that is a global hunger pandemic. In April 2020, the director of the World Food Programme warned that an additional 130 million people could be pushed to the brink of starvation by the end of 2020 because of the coronavirus. This comes on top of the 821 million people in the world who are already food insecure (Khorsandi 2020). Increasingly, scholars of food security, food systems, and poverty have come to realize that the hunger and malnutrition associated with COVID-19 may actually kill or debilitate more people than the disease itself, especially in regions of the world with weaker social safety nets (Fanzo 2020; HLPE 2020a, 2020b; UN 2020).

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Obesity ‑ a risk factor for increased COVID‑19 prevalence, severity and lethality (Review)

Cited by 344 publications

References 162 publications

Sex Differences in Clinical Characteristics and Risk Factors for Disease Severity of Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19 in Beijing

Sex Differences in Clinical Characteristics and Risk Factors for Disease Severity of Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19 in Beijing

The Neat Dance of COVID-19: NEAT1, DANCR, and Co-Modulated Cholinergic RNAs Link to Inflammation

The Vulnerability and Resilience of African Food Systems, Food Security, and Nutrition in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

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