국내 COVID-19 입원 환자의 비만, 상승된 인터루킨-6와 입원기간의 상관관계

Correlations of obesity and elevated interleukin-6 levels with length of stay in COVID-19 patients in Korea: a retrospective study

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations of obesity and clinical charac-teristics including interleukin-6 (IL-6) with hospital length of stay (LOS) in coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) patients in Korea. Methods: A retrospective descriptive study design was employed to an-alyze medical data from a government-designated hospital in a city of Korea. Clinical data were col-lected from 256 patients with COVID-19 in negative-pressure isolation wards in 2021. The following parameters were analyzed: body mass index (BMI), IL-6 levels, age, sex, comorbidities, healthy habitsat the time ofadmission, and LOS. The statistical package SPSS 26.0 was used for descriptive statistics, the independent t-test, the chi-square test, and partial correlation coefficients. Results: The age of COVID-19 patients was positively correlated with BMI (r = -.16, p = .012), IL-6 levels (r = .14, p = .022) and LOS (r = .26, p < .001). Obesity, non-drinking, hypertension, and older age were associated with longer LOS. Conclusion: These results suggest that age, obesity, and hypertension in COVID-19 pa-tients are related to LOS. Studies investigating other factors that can affect long-term hospitalization in COVID-19 patients are suggested.