A population-based cohort study of obesity, ethnicity and COVID-19 mortality in 12.6 million adults in England

Thomas Yates (), Annabel Summerfield, Cameron Razieh, Amitava Banerjee, Yogini Chudasama, Melanie J. Davies, Clare Gillies, Nazrul Islam, Claire Lawson, Evgeny Mirkes, Francesco Zaccardi, Kamlesh Khunti and Vahé Nafilyan
Additional contact information
Thomas Yates: University of Leicester, Leicester General Hospital
Annabel Summerfield: Office for National Statistics
Cameron Razieh: University of Leicester, Leicester General Hospital
Amitava Banerjee: University College London
Yogini Chudasama: University of Leicester, Leicester General Hospital
Melanie J. Davies: University of Leicester, Leicester General Hospital
Clare Gillies: University of Leicester, Leicester General Hospital
Nazrul Islam: University of Oxford
Claire Lawson: University of Leicester
Evgeny Mirkes: University of Leicester
Francesco Zaccardi: University of Leicester, Leicester General Hospital
Kamlesh Khunti: University of Leicester, Leicester General Hospital
Vahé Nafilyan: Office for National Statistics

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Obesity and ethnicity are known risk factors for COVID-19 outcomes, but their combination has not been extensively examined. We investigate the association between body mass index (BMI) and COVID-19 mortality across different ethnic groups using linked national Census, electronic health records and mortality data for adults in England from the start of pandemic (January 2020) to December 2020. There were 30,067 (0.27%), 1,208 (0.29%), 1,831 (0.29%), 845 (0.18%) COVID-19 deaths in white, Black, South Asian and other ethnic minority groups, respectively. Here we show that BMI was more strongly associated with COVID-19 mortality in ethnic minority groups, resulting in an ethnic risk of COVID-19 mortality that was dependant on BMI. The estimated risk of COVID-19 mortality at a BMI of 40 kg/m2 in white ethnicities was equivalent to the risk observed at a BMI of 30.1 kg/m2, 27.0 kg/m2, and 32.2 kg/m2 in Black, South Asian and other ethnic minority groups, respectively.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28248-1

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