Commentary
Although a relationship between metabolic syndrome and COVID-19 severity might exist, it is currently unclear whether NASH is associated with a higher risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. The primary objective of this study by S. Ghoneim et al. (Department of Internal Medicine, MetroHealth Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio, USA) was to identify whether metabolic syndrome or its components are independently associated with the diagnosis of COVID-19. The secondary objective was to investigate whether a relationship exists between NASH and COVID-19.
The authors reviewed data (61.4 million active adult patients) from a large commercial database from 26 large nationwide healthcare systems. They included patients with the diagnosis of COVID-19 from December 2019 to May 2020.
The cumulative incidence of COVID-19 was higher if metabolic syndrome was the primary diagnosis. The adjusted odds of having COVID-19 were higher in patients if they were hypertensive, obese, diabetic, hyperlipidaemic or diagnosed with NASH (OR 4.93, 95% confidence interval 4.06-6.00).
Take home message: The incidence of COVID-19 in patients with metabolic syndrome is high. Among all comorbid metabolic conditions, NASH had the strongest association with COVID-19.
