Visceral adipose tissue area predicts intensive care unit admission in COVID-19 patients

Obes Res Clin Pract. 2021 Jan-Feb;15(1):89-92. doi: 10.1016/j.orcp.2020.12.002. Epub 2020 Dec 11.

Abstract

We retrospectively investigated, in 62 consecutive hospitalised COVID-19 patients (aged 70 ± 14 years, 40 males), the prognostic value of CT-derived subcutaneous adipose tissue and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) metrics, testing them in four predictive models for admission to intensive care unit (ICU), with and without pre-existing comorbidities. Multivariate logistic regression identified VAT score as the best ICU admission predictor (odds ratios 4.307-12.842). A non-relevant contribution of comorbidities at receiver operating characteristic analysis (area under the curve 0.821 for the CT-based model, 0.834 for the one including comorbidities) highlights the potential one-stop-shop prognostic role of CT-derived lung and adipose tissue metrics.

Keywords: COVID-19; Critical care; Intra-Abdominal fat; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Subcutaneous fat; Tomography, X-Ray computed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Area Under Curve
  • Body Mass Index
  • COVID-19* / complications
  • COVID-19* / metabolism
  • Critical Care*
  • Female
  • Hospitalization*
  • Humans
  • Intensive Care Units*
  • Intra-Abdominal Fat / metabolism*
  • Logistic Models
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Obesity / complications
  • Obesity / epidemiology
  • Obesity / metabolism*
  • Pandemics
  • Prognosis
  • ROC Curve
  • Retrospective Studies
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • Subcutaneous Fat / metabolism*
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed