Body mass index and comorbidities are associated with the duration of COVID-19 symptoms in non-hospitalized patients. Issue 9 (September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Šarčević, Zoran; Tepavčević, Andreja
• Is Part Of: Journal of international medical research. Volume 50:Issue 9(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-09
• Subjects: Coronavirus disease 2019 -- body mass index -- obesity -- risk factor -- comorbidity -- symptom; Medicine -- Periodicals; Pharmacology -- Periodicals; 610.5
• DOI: 10.1177/03000605221127520
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0300-0605

Abstract

Objective: Evidence indicates that people with a high body mass index (BMI) tend to develop more severe forms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this study, we aimed to determine the association between the duration of COVID-19 symptoms and variables such as BMI, age, presence of comorbidities, and smoking in non-hospitalized patients. Methods: In this observational cross-sectional analytical study, we analyzed the data of patients with COVID-19 but without severe manifestations. We conducted descriptive statistics, non-parametric tests, and multivariate quasi-Poisson regression in the analysis. The quasi-Poisson regression model was configured with the duration of COVID-19 symptoms as the response variable, and BMI and the presence of comorbidities as the explanatory variables. Results: Among 302 non-hospitalized patients, we found a significant difference in COVID-19 symptom duration between the overweight group and the group with normal weight. Multivariate quasi-Poisson regression analysis showed that BMI and the presence of comorbidities were associated with the duration of COVID-19 symptoms. On the contrary, sex, age, and smoking status were not related to COVID-19 symptom duration. Conclusions: BMI and comorbidities were associated with the duration of COVID-19 symptoms in non-hospitalized patients.