association between obesity, overweight, and developing long covid: a meta-analysis

Background: long coronavirus disease (covid) has been defined as the persistence of symptoms, or the development of new symptoms related to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (sars-cov-2) infection occurring at least 28 days after the initial diagnosis of covid-19. there are indications that metabolic dysfunction may promote or exacerbate these syndromes. this study investigated the association between obesity, overweight, and long covid in covid-19 survivors.methods: this meta-analysis was conducted from march 2022 to august 2022. data were obtained from articles published in pubmed, sciencedirect, cochrane library, and taylor and francis. the comparison between obesity, overweight, and long covid among covid-19 survivors was calculated using a z test. a total of 269.574 patients with obesity, 3.741 patients with overweight, and 3.395 patients with normal/underweight were retrieved from four papers.results: the evidence indicated that the incidence of long-term covid was significantly higher in covid-19 survivors with obesity compared to those without obesity (or: 1.36; 95% confidence interval (ci), 1.09%, 1.71%). the results also showed that the risk of long-term covid incidence was greater in covid-19 survivors with obesity than those with overweight (or: 1.23; 95% ci, 1.08%, 1.41%). moreover, covid-19 survivors who were overweight showed no significant difference in long-term covid incidence compared to those who were not overweight (or: 0.98; 95% ci, 0.84%, 1.14%).conclusion: obesity has a significant association with covid-19 survivors compared to those who are overweight and carries a higher risk of developing long-term covid-19 conditions.