ABC Journal of Advanced Research, Volume 11, No 1 (2022) ISSN 2304-2621(p); 2312-203X (e) Copyright © CC-BY-NC, i-Proclaim | ABCJAR Page 33 Morbidity and Mortality of COVID in Relation to Age, Sex and BMI Mysore S. Bhagavan 1 , Srikrishna C. Karnatapu 2* , Saloni Doke 3 , Theourrn Amalathasan 4 , Thebuoshon Amalathasan 5 , Chiraag Ashokkumar 6 1 Internal Medicine Doctor, Internal Medicine, Loretto Hospital, 645 South Central Ave, Chicago IL, 60644, USA 2,4,5 All Saints University School of Medicine, Hillsborough St, Roseau, DOMINICA 3,6 Spartan Health Sciences University, Spartan Drive, St. Jude's Highway, ST. LUCIA * Corresponding Contact: Email: srikrishna.karnatapu@allsaintsuniversity.org Manuscript Received: 26 March 2021 evised: 12 Apil 2021 Accepted: 17 May 2022 ABSTRACT The United States (US) has been the epicenter of the Coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19). The underrepresented minorities, which tend to have a higher prevalence of obesity, are affected disproportionately. This study aimed to assess the early outcomes and characteristics of COVID-19 patients in the US and investigate whether age, gender, and obesity are associated with worse outcomes. To determine the effect of body mass index, sex, and age on risk for morbidity and mortality of COVID-19. Compressive systematic research was conducted to pool every relevant article that evaluated COVID’s effect on patients with regard to BMI, age, sex, and mortality. Search for articles was conducted in the most widely- used databases such as PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, and Web of Science. Search terms used for article retrieval included: “BMI,” OR “Obesity,” OR “BMI,” OR “Sex,” OR “Age.” AND “COVID-19 related mortality.” Severe obesity, male sex, and increasing age are associated with a high rate of in-hospital mortality and generally worse in-hospital prognosis. Keywords: COVID-19, Obesity, SARS-CoV-2, Mortality, Coronavirus, Pandemic, Sex This article is is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon work non-commercially, and although the new works must also acknowledge & be non-commercial. INTRODUCTION The COVID-19 outbreak is caused by severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV- 2). This disease has spread across the globe and created a great deal of concern (Chen et al., 2020). Healthcare providers and organizations have been working round the clock to find solutions to minimize the spread of the disease and also reduce the fatality rates. The astronomical increase in the number of cases has overburdened the healthcare system, mostly in developing nations with fragile healthcare systems (Ornell et al., 2020; McKibbin & Fernando, 2020). Early diagnosis of severe cases helps reduce mortality and improve patient conditions. Early classification of severe and mild cases was effective in facilitating the efficient utilization of limited resources (Siddiqi & Mehra, 2020). Several studies have reported changes in some laboratory parameters (e.g., lymphocyte count, C-reactive