SARS-CoV-2 infection and obesity: Common inflammatory and metabolic aspects

Michalakis, Konstantinos; Ilias, Ioannis

BACKROUND AND AIMS: According to the World Obesity Federation, “obesity-related conditions seem to worsen the effect of Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2)”; additionally the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported that “people with heart disease and diabetes are at higher risk of SARS-CoV-2 complications and that severe obesity poses a higher risk for severe illness”. Recent reports have shown elevated levels of cytokines due to increased inflammation in patients with SARS-CoV-2 disease. On the other hand, obesity represents a state of low-grade inflammation, with various inflammatory products directly excreted by adipose tissue. In this concise report we aimed to assess common elements of obesity and SARS-CoV-2 infection. METHODS: Pubmed search on obesity and SARS-CoV-2 infection. RESULTS: We present “mechanistic” obesity-related problems that aggravate SARS-CoV-2 infection as well as tentative inflammatory/metabolic links between these diseases. CONCLUSION: Obesity and SARS-CoV-2 share common elements of the inflammatory process (and possibly also metabolic disturbances), exacerbating SARS-CoV-2 infection in the obese.