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.