Obesity Is a Risk Factor for Greater COVID-19 Severity

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has attracted increasing worldwide attention. Obesity commonly aggravates the severity of respiratory diseases, but it is currently not known whether obese patients are also more likely to have greater COVID-19 severity of illness. We investigated the association between obesity and COVID-19 severity of illness among patients with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection.