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 coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) 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. MATERIALS AND 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 inhospital 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. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Kaur M, Aggarwal R, Ganesh V, Kumar R, Patel N, Ayub A, et al. 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. Indian J Crit Care Med 2021;25(12):1382–1386.