ArticleLancet (London, England)2026
Adult obesity and risk of severe infections: a multicohort study with global burden estimates.
Article in Lancet (London, England), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Maternal body mass index and the risk of early-onset Group B Streptococcus disease in newborns: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2026Pooled it
- Obesity in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD): Effects on Inflammation, Immune System, Susceptibility to Viral Infections, and Mortality.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Impact of Body Mass Index on Clinical Outcomes of LLETZ.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Machine learning, whole genome sequencing, and Mendelian randomization support a role of CRP on COVID-19 severity.Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026Article
- FNDC4 and FNDC5 Attenuate SARS-CoV-2 S1-Induced Inflammatory Responses in Human Adipose Tissue.European journal of clinical investigation · 2026Article
- Feeding the invaders: how metabolic imbalance shapes infection and biofilm development.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2026Review
- Metabolic syndrome and risk of sepsis and sepsis-related mortality: evidence from two large prospective cohort studies.Military Medical Research · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAdult obesity has been linked to specific infections, but evidence across the full spectrum of infectious diseases remains scarce. In this multicohort study with impact modelling, we examined the association between this preventable risk factor and the incidence, hospitalisations, and mortality of 925 bacterial, viral, parasitic, and fungal infectious diseases, and estimated their global and regional attributable impact.
methodsWe used pooled data from two Finnish cohort studies and repeated analyses in an independent population from the UK Biobank. BMI was assessed at baseline (1998-2002 in the Finnish studies; 2006-10 in UK Biobank), and participants were categorised as having healthy weight (18·5-24·9 kg/m
findingsThe analysis included 67 766 adults (mean age 42·1 [SD 10·8] years; 49 516 [73·1%] females, 18 250 [26·9%] males) from the Finnish cohorts and 479 498 adults (mean age 57·0 [SD 8·1] years; 261 084 [54·4%] females, 218 414 [45·6%] males) from UK Biobank. Participants had no recent history of infection-related hospitalisations at baseline. During follow-up, there were 8230 incident infection cases in the Finnish cohorts and 81 945 in UK Biobank. Compared with individuals of healthy weight, those with class III obesity had a three-times higher risk of infection-related hospital admissions (Finnish cohorts 2·75 [95% CI 2·24-3·37], UK Biobank 3·07 [2·95-3·19]), death (Finnish cohorts 3·06 [1·25-7·49], UK Biobank 3·54 [3·15-3·98]), or either outcome (Finnish cohorts 2·69 [2·19-3·30], UK Biobank 3·07 [2·95-3·19]). The corresponding pooled hazard ratio for either fatal or non-fatal severe infection among individuals with any obesity (classes I-III) was 1·7 (1·7-1·8). This association was consistent across different indicators of obesity (BMI, waist circumference, and waist-to-height ratio), demographic and clinical subgroups, and a wide range of infections (non-fatal and fatal, acute and chronic, bacterial and viral [including subtypes], and parasitic and fungal). Applying these risk estimates to global burden of disease data, the population attributable fractions of infection-related deaths due to obesity were estimated at 8·6% (6·6-11·1) in 2018, 15·0% (12·8-17·4) in 2021, and 10·8% (8·6-13·6) in 2023.
interpretationAdult obesity is a risk factor for infection-related hospitalisations and mortality across diverse pathogen types, populations, and baseline clinical profiles, with evidence suggesting that approximately one in ten infection-related deaths worldwide might be attributable to obesity.
fundingWellcome Trust, Medical Research Council, and Research Council of Finland.
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