422944

Association between Body Mass Index and the Severity of COVID-19 Among Patients in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Article

Last updated: 27 Apr 2025

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Abstract

Background: The Coronavirus (COVID-19), a highly con-tagious disease, has been officially classified as a global pan-demic by the World Health Organization. Notably, obesity has been identified as a significant risk factor for severe illness in COVID-19 patients. Aim of Study: This cross-sectional study determines the as-sociation between BMI classification and the severity of COV-ID-19 symptoms. Material and Methods: The study included 366 adults re-cruited from King Saud University Medical City (KSUMC). The data were collected from the informational systems of pa-tients on the hospital premises. Results: Sixty-nine percent of the participants had elevat-ed BMI, followed by normal BMI (29%) and low BMI (2%). The chi-square test showed a statistically significant relation (p=0.04) between BMI categories and the intensive care unit (ICU) admissions. These findings suggest that people with a higher BMI are more likely to have severe COVID-19 out-comes than people with a low or normal BMI. Conclusion: The findings of this study emphasize the im-portance of recognizing obesity as a significant health threat and a risk factor for communicable diseases to the public. Thus, practitioners should closely monitor obese patients to prevent severe and potentially lifethreatening outcomes.

DOI

10.21608/mjcu.2025.422944

Keywords

COVID-19, Obesity, BMI, ICU

Authors

First Name

NORA ALAFIF, Ph.D.*; WAAD ALFAWAZ, Ph.D.*; NOUF ALGHAMDI, Ph.D.*; TOURKIAH ALESSA, Ph.D.**;

Last Name

SHADEN ALMUTAIRI, M.Sc.*; BADRYH ALANAZI, M.Sc.* and MAHA ALQAHTANI, M.Sc.*

MiddleName

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Affiliation

The Departments of Community Health Sciences* and Biomedical Technology**, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

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Volume

93

Article Issue

03

Related Issue

55142

Issue Date

2025-03-01

Receive Date

2025-04-17

Publish Date

2025-03-01

Page Start

145

Page End

152

Print ISSN

0045-3803

Online ISSN

2536-9806

Link

https://mjcu.journals.ekb.eg/article_422944.html

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http://journals.ekb.eg?_action=service&article_code=422944

Order

422,944

Type

Original Article

Type Code

263

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

The Medical Journal of Cairo University

Publication Link

https://mjcu.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Association between Body Mass Index and the Severity of COVID-19 Among Patients in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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Article

Created At

27 Apr 2025