LAUSR

[First paragraph] Whilst emerging evidence has suggested that those with cardiometabolic diseases are at higher risk of severe COVID-19 andresulting complications, less is known about the relative importance of related lifestyle factors. Obesity in particular is associated withimpaired pulmonary function, a suppressed immune system and has been identified as a risk factor in previous infectious outbreaks.Obesity also appears to be prevalent in subjects with COVID-19. However, as recently highlighted, there is a lack of informationregarding the nature of association between body mass index (BMI) and COVID-19. In order to inform this area, we investigated the association between obesity and laboratory confirmed COVID-19 within UK Biobank (application number 36371). Our hypothesis was that BMI and waist circumference would be independently associated with COVID19.