Association of body mass index with COVID-19 related in-hospital death.

Background: Patients with extreme body mass indices (BMI) could have an increased risk of death while hospitalized for COVID-19. Methods: The database of the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC) was used to assess the time to in-hospital death with competing-risks regression by sex and between the categories of BMI. Results: Data from 12,137 patients (age 60.0 ± 16.2 years, 59% males, BMI 29.4 ± 6.9 kg/m2 ) of 48 countries were available. By univariate analysis, underweight patients had a higher risk of mortality than the other patients (sub-hazard ratio (SHR) 1.75 [1.44e2.14]). Mortality was lower in normal (SHR 0.69 [0.58e0.85]), overweight (SH…