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Body mass index and comorbidities are associated with the duration of COVID-19 symptoms in non-hospitalized patients

J Int Med Res. 2022 Sep;50(9):3000605221127520. doi: 10.1177/03000605221127520.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Evidence indicates that people with a high body mass index (BMI) tend to develop more severe forms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this study, we aimed to determine the association between the duration of COVID-19 symptoms and variables such as BMI, age, presence of comorbidities, and smoking in non-hospitalized patients.

METHODS: In this observational cross-sectional analytical study, we analyzed the data of patients with COVID-19 but without severe manifestations. We conducted descriptive statistics, non-parametric tests, and multivariate quasi-Poisson regression in the analysis. The quasi-Poisson regression model was configured with the duration of COVID-19 symptoms as the response variable, and BMI and the presence of comorbidities as the explanatory variables.

RESULTS: Among 302 non-hospitalized patients, we found a significant difference in COVID-19 symptom duration between the overweight group and the group with normal weight. Multivariate quasi-Poisson regression analysis showed that BMI and the presence of comorbidities were associated with the duration of COVID-19 symptoms. On the contrary, sex, age, and smoking status were not related to COVID-19 symptom duration.

CONCLUSIONS: BMI and comorbidities were associated with the duration of COVID-19 symptoms in non-hospitalized patients.

PMID:36177839 | DOI:10.1177/03000605221127520

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