The Association Between Obesity and COVID-19 Severity in Children Differed Between SARS-CoV-2 Variants: A Multicountry Hospital-Based Observational Study
Obesity was associated with more severe COVID-19 during the ancestral and pre-Omicron waves but not during the Omicron wave. Importantly, the same phenomenon was observed in unvaccinated children, suggesting that differences in vaccination did not account for the observed changes in the need for respiratory support over time.
Authors
- Fernanda Rodrigues (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5820-5215)
- Kulkanya Chokephaibulkit (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0140-4600)
- Daniel Jarovsky (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4825-7396)
- Charles F. Gilks (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8953-3123)
- Yao Xia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5731-9413)
- Danilo Buonsenso (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8567-2639)
- Yanshan Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3726-2456)
- Stephania A. Cormier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6050-6172)
- Kirsty R. Short (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4963-6184)
- Srivatsan Padmanabhan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2958-1390)
- Marco Aurélio Palazzi Sáfadi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4401-9446)
- Martín Brizuela (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2113-449X)
- Nicole Ritz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1498-1685)
- Malcolm Gracie Semple (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9700-0418)
- David Burgner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8304-4302)
- Petra Zimmermann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2388-4318)
- Asha C Bowen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3242-1155)
- Daniel K. Yeoh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6284-612X)
- Philip N Britton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2993-6000)
- Flávia Jacqueline Almeida (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8587-9733)
- Christoph Saner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1380-0341)
- Keng Yih Chew
Institutions
- Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (IT)
- Pennington Biomedical Research Center (US)
- University of Bern (CH)
- Louisiana State University (US)
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- Apple (Israel) (IL)
- Royal Children's Hospital (AU)
- Siriraj Hospital (TH)
- University of Liverpool (GB)
- University of Lucerne (CH)
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- The University of Western Australia (AU)
- University of Basel (CH)
- Mahidol University (TH)
- Franciscan Health (US)
- Princess Margaret Hospital for Children (AU)
- University Hospital of Bern (CH)
- Hospitais da Universidade de Coimbra (PT)
- Children's Hospital at Westmead (AU)
- Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic (IT)
- Hospital Fernández (AR)
- University of Teacher Education Lucerne (CH)
- Faculdade de Ciências Médicas da Santa Casa de São Paulo (BR)
- University Children’s Hospital Basel (CH)
- St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma (US)
- Hospital Infantil Albert Sabin (BR)
- Murdoch Children's Research Institute (AU)
- University of Washington Tacoma (US)
- Alder Hey Children's Hospital (GB)
- Health Protection Research Unit in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections at University of Liverpool (GB)
- Perth Children's Hospital
Publication Details
- Journal
- The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal
- Published
- 2025-09-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1097/inf.0000000000004956
- Primary Topic
- COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00