Clinical course and outcome of critically ill obese patients with COVID-19 admitted in intensive care unit of a single center: Our experience and review

Introduction: Obesity has been considered as one of the independent risk factors for a severe form of COVID disease and relationship between obesity, critical illness, and infection is still poorly understood. We herein discuss clinical course and outcome of critically ill obese patients with COVID-19 admitted to critical care unit. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data of critically ill obese patients hospitalized with COVID-19 over a span of 6 months. Management was guided according to the institutional protocol. Collected data included demographic parameters (age, sex, comorbidities, and body mass index (BMI)), complications, inflammatory markers (interleukin (IL)-6, Ferritin), length of mechanical ventilation, length of intensive care unit (ICU) stay, and in-hospital death. Results: There was no appreciable difference in terms of demographics, inflammatory markers, predictors of mortality scores, and comorbidity indices between the survivors and nonsurvivors. Among outcome analysis, there was a statistically significant difference between ventilator days between survivors and nonsurvivors (p = 0.003^**). Conclusion: Obesity itself is a significant risk factor for severe COVID-19 infection; however, if efficiently managed and in a protocol-determined manner, it can have a favorable outcome.