Being overweight hampers body's immune response to SARS-CoV-2

University of Queensland-led research shows being overweight can impair the body's antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 infection but not to the protection offered by vaccination. The study is published in Clinical & Translational Immunology.

Research lead, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences PhD candidate Marcus Tong, said the finding built on the ++ team’s existing research on how COVID-19 affects people who are overweight.

“We’ve previously shown that being overweight – not just being obese – increases the severity of SARS-CoV-2,” Mr Tong said. “But this work shows that being overweight creates an impaired antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 infection but not to vaccination.”

The research team collected blood samples from people who had recovered from COVID-19 and not been reinfected during the study period, approximately 3 months and 13 months post-infection. “At 3 months post-infection, an elevated BMI was associated with reduced antibody levels,” Mr Tong said.

In contrast, an elevated BMI had no effect on the antibody response to COVID-19 vaccination at approximately 6 months after the second vaccine was administered.

“Finally, the data provides an added impetus to improve SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in low-income countries, where there’s a high percentage of people who are overweight and are dependent on infection-induced immunity.”

Reference: Being overweight hampers body’s immune response to SARS-CoV-2; JOURNAL\