Significant weight loss attained with surgery is linked to improved outcomes in obese patients with COVID-19, according to new data published in JAMA Surgery.
The primary goal of the study was to examine the association between a positive weight loss intervention and improved risk and severity of COVID-19 in patients with obesity. To do so, researchers examined 20,212 patients before and after the COVID-19 outbreak on March 1, 2020.
In the analysis, four COVID-19–related outcomes—positive SARS-CoV-2 test result, hospitalization, the need for supplemental oxygen, and severe COVID-19 infection—were analyzed in patients with a COVID-19 diagnosis between March 2020-2021.
The median follow-up duration was 6.1 years for patients in the surgical group and 6.2 years for those in the control group. All data was taken from the Cleveland Clinic Health System’s electronic health records. Seventy-seven percent of the patients were women, and the mean patient age was 46 years old with a body mass index of 35 or higher.
The authors found that of 11,809 patients with obesity, the rates of positive SARS-CoV-2 test results were similar among patients in the surgical group and control group.
Nevertheless, prior weight loss surgery was associated with a 49% reduced risk of hospitalization, 63% lower risk of need for supplemental oxygen, and 60% decreased risk of severe disease during a 12-month period after contracting COVID-19 infection, according to the authors.
In addition, before the COVID-19 outbreak, patients in the surgical group compared with those in the control group, lost more weight and had a 53% lower 10-year cumulative occurrence of all-cause non–COVID-19 mortality.
“The findings from this study show an association between weight loss achieved with surgery and improved outcomes of COVID-19 infection, suggesting that obesity can be a modifiable risk factor for the severity of COVID-19 infection,” lead author Aminian, MD, with the Bariatric and Metabolic Institute at the Cleveland Clinic, and colleagues wrote.
In an accompanying editorial, Paulina Salminen, MD, PhD, with the division of digestive surgery and urology at Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland, and colleagues wrote: “metabolic surgery has been shown to effectively treat obesity and many comorbid diseases, resulting in improved health, quality of life, and long-term survival. COVID-19 should now be added to the long list of obesity comorbidities that can be mitigated by metabolic surgery.”
Read the full study here.