Parallel epidemics, or nearly so: Certainties and uncertainties about SARS-CoV-2 in Italy

Risk of bias and certainty of evidence on the association between obesity and mortality in patients with SARS-COV-2: An umbrella review of meta-analyses

BACKGROUND & AIMS

This umbrella review of systematic reviews with meta-analysis (SR-MAs) aimed to evaluate the risk of bias and the certainty of the evidence of SR-MAs on the association between obesity and mortality in patients with SARS-CoV-2.

METHODS

We conducted a comprehensive literature search until April 22, 2022, in several databases and assessed the risk of bias of SR-MAs according to AMSTAR-2 and the certainty of evidence using the GRADE approach. The degree of overlap between meta-analyses was based on the corrected covered area (CCA) index. The results of each MA [relative risk (RR), hazard ratio (HR), or odds ratio (OR)] were extracted to evaluate the magnitude of the association between obesity and mortality.

RESULTS

A total of 24 SR-MAs were eligible, and the association between obesity and mortality was not statistically significant in eight (33.3%) of them, while the OR/HR/RR ranged from 1.14 to 3.52 in the other SR-MAs. The overlap was slight (CCA = 4.82%). The majority of SR-MAs presented critically low quality according to AMSTAR-2 (66.7%), and the certainty of the evidence for most of them (83.4%) was "very low".

CONCLUSIONS

Obesity was associated with an increased risk of death in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection in most SR-MAs; however, a critical appraisal pointed to a high risk of bias, and the certainty of their evidence was not well graded. The dissemination of poor SR-MAs may limit the interpretation of findings, and we should always aspire to trustworthy scientific evidence.

PROSPERO

PROSPERO 2021 CRD42021253142.

Metabolic risk factors and risk of Covid-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

Based on the epidemiologic findings of Covid-19 incidence; illness and mortality seem to be associated with metabolic risk factors. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess the association of metabolic risk factors and risk of Covid-19.

METHODS

This study was designed according to PRISMA guidelines. Two independent researchers searched for the relevant studies using PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Scopus. The search terms developed focusing on two main roots of "Covid-19" and "metabolic risk factors". All relevant observational, analytical studies, review articles, and a meta-analysis on the adult population were included in this meta-analysis. Meta-analysis was performed using the random effect model for pooling proportions to address heterogeneity among studies. Data were analyzed using STATA package version 11.2, (StataCorp, USA).

RESULTS

Through a comprehensive systematic search in the targeted databases we found 1124 papers, after running the proses of refining, 13 studies were included in the present meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of obesity in Covid-19 patients was 29% (95% CI: 14-47%). For Diabetes and Hypertension, these were 22% (95% CI: 12% 33%) and 32% (95% CI: 12% 56%), respectively. There was significant heterogeneity in the estimates of the three pooled prevalence without any significant small-study effects. Such warning points, to some extent, guide physicians and clinicians to better understand the importance of controlling co-morbid risk factors in prioritizing resource allocation and interventions.

CONCLUSION

The meta-analysis showed that hypertension is more prevalent than obesity and diabetes in patients with Covid-19 disease. The prevalence of co-morbid metabolic risk factors must be adopted for better management and priority settings of public health vaccination and other required interventions. The results may help to improve services delivery in COVID-19 patients, while helping to develop better policies for prevention and response to COVID-19 and its critical outcomes.