The following is a summary of “Obesity as a clinical predictor for severe manifestation of dengue: a systematic review and meta-analysis,” published in the July 2023 issue of Infectious Disease by Chen et al.
Obesity weakens the immune system, potentially worsening severe dengue outcomes; inconclusive results on obese patients. Researchers performed a retrospective study investigating the association between obesity and dengue severity. A systematic search was done in PubMed, Embase, Ovid Medline, and Cochrane from inception to September 9, 2022, using the keywords “dengue” and “obesity. They analyzed the pooled odds ratio with 95% CI using the Mantel-Haenszel method and a random effects model.
Results showed, in the meta-analysis, 15 articles involving 6,508 patients. Most patients were hospitalized pediatric patients, except for one study, which included adulthood data. Some studies found a significant association between obesity and dengue severity (3 cohorts, 4 case-control, and 1 cross-sectional), while others reported no meaningful relationship (3 cohorts, 3 case-control, and 1 cross-sectional). The analysis revealed that patients with obesity have a 50% increased likelihood (OR = 1.50; 95% CI: 1.15–1.97) of developing severe dengue manifestations.
Investigators concluded that being overweight may predict severe dengue disease in pediatric patients.
Source: bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-023-08481-9