COVID-19 and obesity: The intersection between a pandemic and an epidemic in a developing country

We have read with great interest the prospective cohort study published by Czernichow et al ¹ , wherein they found that obesity doubles mortality in patients hospitalized with coronavirus disease (COVID-19), using as an indicator anthropometric, the body mass index (BMI). Despite BMI being recognized as an anthropometric index of obesity and various studies confirming that it predicts cardiovascular events, the lack of information it provides on the distribution of body fat is considered its main limitation. The use of abdominal circumference and waist-height ratio are better measures of visceral fat distribution, which is more closely associated with cardiometabolic risk;² however, those measures demand greater contact with COVID-19 patients.

Keywords: COVID-19; Developing country; Obesity.