Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is a new type of corona virus, first

discovered on December 8, 2019 in Wuhan, China where several cases of clinical symptoms which
could progress to acute respiratory distress syndrome and death. The COVID-19 pandemic has
spread across the world and various studies are being conducted to identify groups that are
vulnerable to developing severe and life-threatening symptoms. Williamson et al reported that
obesity is one of the risk factor for severe clinical COVID-19, this is because these tend to have
comorbid diseases such as metabolic disease and cardiovascular disease. Albashir et al reported that
85% of obese patients required mechanical ventilation. Rao et al also reported that being
overweight is an independent risk factor for the severity of COVID-19.

Overweight and obese COVID-19 patients are associated with poor outcomes. Several studies on the
effect of obesity and poor outcomes, among others, reported by Bello-Chavola et al in a cross-
sectional study of 8,261 COVID-19 patients showed that obese patients (Body Mass Index, BMI > 30
kg/m2) had a higher mortality rate, namely by 13.6% compared to patients with BMI < 30 kg/m2 of
7.1%.7 Yu et al also reported that COVID-19 patients with BMI >25 kg/m2 could increase the risk of
death in COVID-19 patients by 18.92 %.8 Moriconi et al in their study also reported that COVID-19
patients with BMI > 30 kg/m2 had a longer duration of hospital stay (21±8 days) than patients with
BMI <30 kg/m2 (13±7) days. .9 The study of Drecher et al reported that obese COVID-19 patients had
a greater incidence of ARDS (46%) than non-obese patients (23%).10 Gupta et al in their study of
COVID-19 patients with BMI >40 kg/m2 1.5 times more frequent need for intensive care f compared
to patients with BMI <25 kg/m2.11

The high risk of COVID-19 patients with obesity experiencing severe and critical clinical conditions
that require intensive care and the occurrence of poor outcomes, made the authors interested in
looking at the relationship between obesity and the outcomes of COVID-19 patients treated in the
intensive care unit of RSUP Dr. M. Djamil Padang.