Is BMI Higher in Younger Patients with COVID‐19? Association Between BMI and COVID‐19 Hospitalization by Age

Abstract

Objective Obesity has been found to be a risk factor for hospitalization with COVID‐19. We were interested in understanding whether patients hospitalized with COVID‐19 differed in BMI at older versus younger ages, and if trends were independent of diabetes and hypertension. Methods We performed a cross‐sectional analysis of patients hospitalized with moderate to severe COVID‐19 at Northwestern Memorial Hospital from March 19^th, 2020 until April 4^th, 2020. We compared patients hospitalized with COVID‐19 above and below the age of 50, and to those hospitalized without COVID‐19. Results We found patients younger than 50 years of age hospitalized with COVID‐19 without diabetes or hypertension had mean BMI greater than those older than 50 years of age, with BMI 43.1 (95%CI 34.5 – 51.7) kg/m² vs 30.1 (95%CI 27.7 – 32.5) kg/m² (p=0.02). Furthermore, BMI appears to inversely correlate with increasing age amongst patients hospitalized with COVID‐19. We did not detect the same difference or trend for patients hospitalized without COVID‐19. Conclusion We found younger patients (age <50 years) with COVID‐19 had higher mean BMI than older patients with COVID‐19, with and without diabetes and hypertension. This trend did not exist in patients without COVID‐19 hospitalized during the same time‐period.