Is excess weight a risk factor for the development of COVID 19 infection? A preliminary report from India

This study explored the association between BMI and COVID-19 positive status in a tertiary care hospital from New Delhi. BMI is an important risk factor for a positive result for COVID-19 infection among patients with clinical suspicion of COVID-19. With every one unit increment in BMI above 23 kg/m2, the odds of COVID-19 increases by 1.8 times. There appears to have a dose-response association between BMI and a chance of positive result for COVID-19 test in people with overweight, obesity I and obesity II. The odds ratios in these groups are 4.4, 138.8, and 506.6 in comparison to the participants with normal weight.
This study has certain limitations. The calculation for BMI is based on the height and weight values self-reported by the patients on recall, hence liable to be influenced by recall bias. The wide confidence interval of the odds ratios indicates inadequate sample size.