The Effect of the Visceral Adiposity Index on the Severity of COVID-19 Disease: Results of a Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Obesity has been identified as a contributing factor that exacer-bates the severity of COVID-19 and is associated with an increased risk of mortality among hospi-talized patients. Assessing visceral adipose tis-sue cannot be solely determined by obesity and body mass index (BMI) alone. In our study, we investigated the relationship between the vis-ceral adiposity index (VAI) and the clinical se-verity of COVID-19.PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 315 adult patients hospitalized with COVID-19 were included in the study. The cohort consisted of 146 male patients, and the median age was 60 (48-74) years. Comparative analyses were con-ducted to evaluate gender-based differences in VAI levels and the impact of VAI on the extent of radiological lung involvement.RESULTS: The median VAI level was signifi-cantly higher in women compared to men (6.1 vs. 4.0, p<0.001). Furthermore, patients with radio -logically severe lung involvement demonstrat-ed a higher median VAI level compared to those with mild involvement (5.7 vs. 4.2, p=0.003). This difference was particularly notable among male patients, where the median VAI level was signifi-cantly higher. Logistic regression analysis re-vealed that each integer increase in the median VAI value was associated with a 1.1-fold (1.01-1.14) increase in the severity of radiological lung involvement (p=0.011).CONCLUSIONS: Our study highlights a sig-nificant correlation between VAI and the clinical severity of COVID-19, particularly among male patients. The findings suggest that VAI, as an in-dicator of visceral adiposity, holds potential as a valuable tool for assessing COVID-19 severi-ty and identifying high-risk individuals, partic-ularly males.