NEWS: Obesity, walking pace and risk of severe COVID-19

Obesity, walking pace and risk of severe COVID-19 and mortality: analysis of UK Biobank

The team have collaborated to develop a paper based on walking pace and how it may be an important risk marker for severe COVID-19 and mortality. The recently published paper, ‘Obesity, walking pace and risk of severe COVID-19 and mortality: analysis of UK Biobank’ in the International Journal of Obesity, finds self-reported slow walkers appear to be a high-risk group for severe COVID-19 outcomes independent of obesity.

Abstract below from the published article in International Journal of Obesity:

Obesity is an emerging risk factor for coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). Simple measures of physical fitness, such as self-reported walking pace, may also be important risk markers. This analysis includes 412,596 UK Biobank participants with linked COVID-19 data (median age at linkage = 68 years, obese = 24%, median number of comorbidities = 1).

As of August 24th 2020, there were 1001 cases of severe (in-hospital) disease and 336 COVID-19 deaths. Compared to normal weight individuals, the adjusted odds ratio (OR) of severe COVID-19 in overweight and obese individuals was 1.26 (1.07, 1.48) and 1.49 (1.25, 1.79), respectively.

For COVID-19 mortality, the ORs were 1.19 (0.88, 161) and 1.82 (1.33, 2.49), respectively. Compared to those with a brisk walking pace, the OR of severe COVID-19 for steady/average and slow walkers was 1.13 (0.98, 1.31) and 1.88 (1.53, 2.31), respectively. For COVID-19 mortality, the ORs were 1.44 (1.10, 1.90) and 1.83 (1.26, 2.65), respectively.

Slow walkers had the highest risk regardless of obesity status. For example, compared to normal weight brisk walkers, the OR of severe disease and COVID-19 mortality in normal weight slow walkers was 2.42 (1.53, 3.84) and 3.75 (1.61, 8.70), respectively. Self-reported slow walkers appear to be a high-risk group for severe COVID-19 outcomes independent of obesity.

Read the full article in International Journal of Obesity

GRAPH: Association of combined obesity and walking pace categories with severe COVID-19 and COVID-19 mortality.

Author Information

1. Diabetes Research Centre, University of Leicester, Leicester General Hospital, Leicester, UK

   Thomas Yates, Cameron Razieh, Francesco Zaccardi, Alex V. Rowlands, Samuel Seidu, Melanie J. Davies & Kamlesh Khunti

2. National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Leicester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

   Thomas Yates, Cameron Razieh & Melanie J. Davies

3. Leicester Real World Evidence Unit, Diabetes Research Centre, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

   Francesco Zaccardi & Kamlesh Khunti

4. Leicester Diabetes Centre, University Hospitals of Leicester, Leicester General Hospital, Leicester, UK

   Melanie J. Davies & Kamlesh Khunti

5. NIHR Applied Research Collaboration – East Midlands (ARC-EM), University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

   Kamlesh Khunti