Obesity and Mortality of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients in Asian and Western Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND: The authorities recently emphasized the importance of dietary control for COVID-19 patients in hospitals. However, there is limited detail about the obesity and death of COVID-19 patients who are hospitalized in the Asian and Western countries. The aim of this study was to find the role of obesity and mortality of the hospitalized COVID-19 patients. A systematic review of the studies on obesity and mortality of hospitalized COVID.19 patients in the Asian and western countries. METHODS: Databases of ProQuest, PubMed, and EBSCO were used to find relevant articles published between January 2020 and March 2021. A total of 3,70,836 patients in 17 studies were included. Results: We found significant correlation between obesity and mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients (pooled odds ratio [POR] = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.23–1.33). In particular, this study demonstrated that the Asian countries had higher POR (1.44, 95% CI: 1.16–1.79) compared to the western countries (1.28, 95%CI: 1.23-1.33). The heterogeneity calculation showed heterogenous among studies included (I(2) > 50%). CONCLUSIONS: The mortality of COVID-19-hospitalized patients is related to obesity, which requires a multi-stakeholder mitigation approach to avoid and control obesity and its impacts. CONCLUSIONS: The mortality of COVID-19-hospitalized patients is related to obesity, which requires a multi-stakeholder mitigation approach to avoid and control obesity and its impacts.