COVID‐19 rise in Younger adults with Obesity: Visceral Adiposity can predict the Risk

Iacobellis, Gianluca; Malavazos, Alexis Elias; Ferreira, Tanira

A concerning rise in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) cases has been recently reported, particularly in the USA. The causes of this increase are likely multifactorial and the object of an ongoing health and socio‐economic debate. However, preliminary data indicate that the new COVID‐19 cases are increasing among younger and obese adults. Considering this recent spike, the timing of the paper by Deng et al is of particular importance (1). Deng et al not only confirmed that obesity is a major and independent risk factor for COVID‐19 complications in young adults (2), they pointed out ectopic and visceral fat depots as new markers of that risk. The authors found that computed tomography (CT) imaging of fatty liver and epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) were significantly higher in severely and critically ill COVID‐19 patients under 40 years old as compared to those with milder disease.