Obesity weakens children’s defense against SARS-CoV-2 infection

In the paediatric population, children with obesity are especially vulnerable to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, a study has found.

The study used data from two independent sources: the Longitudinal Childhood Obesity Study (ELOIN) and the epidemiological surveillance system from the Community of Madrid in Spain. A total of 2,018 children were identified and included in the analysis. All of them underwent physical examinations at 4, 6, and 9 years of age during which weight, height, and waist circumference were recorded.

Researchers determined general obesity according to the WHO-2007 criteria and defined abdominal obesity based on the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) criteria. They applied a Poisson regression model and adjusted for sociodemographic variables, physical activity, and perceived health reported by the parents in the analyses.

The accumulated incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection was 8.6 percent, and the mean age at the time of infection was 11.9 years. Of the children, nearly half (n=84, 49.4 percent) had a mild infection, one was hospitalized, and none required admission to an intensive care unit; the rest of the children had asymptomatic infection. The most common symptoms were fever, headache, myalgia, and cough.

The risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 infection among obesity children aged 4–9 years was 2.5 times as high as that among those without obesity (general obesity: relative risk [RR], 2.53, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.56–4.10; abdominal obesity: RR, 2.56, 95 percent CI, 1.55–4.21).

The findings suggest that obesity increases the vulnerability of children to infectious diseases.