Clinical obesity
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Excess weight is associated with severe outcomes of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We aimed to estimate the total secondary care costs by body mass index (BMI, kg/m2 ) category when hospitalized due to COVID-19 in Europe during the first wave of the pandemic from January to June 2020. Building a health-care cost model, this study aimed to estimate the total costs of COVID-19. ⋯ The average cost per hospital admission increased with BMI, from EUR 15831 for BMI <25 kg/m2 to EUR 30982 for BMI ≥40 kg/m2. This study reveals that excess weight contributes disproportionally to the costs of COVID-19. This might reflect that overweight and obesity caused the COVID-19 pandemic to result in more severe outcomes for citizens and higher secondary care costs throughout Europe.