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So far it is known that older people and people with previous illnesses in particular are more likely to develop Covid-19. An American study now shows that obesity could be even more dangerous than asthma or COPD.
It is well known that being overweight can be detrimental to health. Researchers at NYU’s “NYU Langone Medical Center” in New York have investigated how obesity can affect coronavirus disease and have produced surprising results.
Case analysis with more than 4,000 New York City patients
The scientists performed a cross-sectional analysis on patients who confirmed to be Covid 19 cases in New York between March 1 and April 2, 2020. Hospital stays, severe courses, and deaths were particularly considered.
The researchers analyzed a total of 4,103 cases, of which 1,999 were hospitalized. Approximately half (981 patients) were discharged. 292, or about 14.6 percent, died or were discharged from hospice. Of 445 patients who needed mechanical ventilation, 162 (36.4 percent) died. Almost 40 percent of the patients who had to be hospitalized were obese.
High body mass index increases hospital risk
According to the study, the risk of going to the hospital for Covid’s disease 19 increases in people 65 years of age or older, in those with a body mass index (BMI) of more than 40 and in people with heart failure. more obese (39.8 versus 14.4 percent) than Covid-19 patients who were not admitted to the hospital. Obesity endangered patients almost as much as heart failure, but significantly more than lung or cancer diseases.
Accordingly, obesity is one of the risk factors for a severe course of the coronavirus in addition to cardiovascular disease and diabetes. As Ärzteblatt reports, obesity also increases the risk of developing a life-threatening course of Covid-19, being seen in the intensive care unit, or even dying.
Why do overweight people develop Covid-19 more severely?
Until now, it is unclear why obese patients are more likely to have a severe course of Covid-19. Scientists suspect that the inflammatory reactions that occur with obesity may play a role. In severe Covid-19 courses, this often results in an uncontrolled overdrive of the immune system, which can lead to circulatory shock and multiple organ failure.
Added to this is the fact that being overweight also leads to less defense of the immune system against other infections and overweight people are more prone to infections anyway.
Furthermore, according to numerous intensive care doctors according to “Welt”, a high concentration of fat, especially in the abdomen, as it is particularly common and pronounced in men, can compress the diaphragm and lungs and hinder mechanical ventilation.
1,101 patients in the American study were obese. Therefore, the number was slightly below the value for the entire United States, where more than a third are overweight. The researchers explain this difference by saying that “the highest income groups” are treated at the clinics examined. In the United States, the poorest sections of the population are particularly affected by obesity.
Other researchers report similar results.
According to the study, about half of the overweight patients had to be artificially ventilated. A German study by the RWTH Aachen University Hospital obtained similar results. According to this study, patients who suffered from acute respiratory distress or had to be artificially ventilated with Covid’s disease 19 were overweight in 83 percent of cases. In this study, 50 patients with severe course from Heinsberg district were examined.
As reported by “The World”, Dr. med. Karsten Schmidts, an anesthesia specialist and principal consultant in the anesthesiological intensive care unit at Essen University Hospital, said the study results agree with her observations. “Most of the patients who come to the intensive care unit with severe courses of Covid are actually overweight or obese. The normal weight group is outnumbered,” said the doctor. At the same time, he cautioned to jump to conclusions from the study. Not all overweight people are automatically at risk.
Reports from other countries also confirm the study by New York doctors. A French team of researchers noted that more than three-quarters of Covid patients who received intensive care between late February and early April were obese or very obese, with a BMI of over 35. The researchers also found that it was necessary ventilation. increased with the amount of BMI.
Wuhan doctors also showed that more than 88 percent of those who died from Covid-19 had a BMI of more than 25, and were therefore overweight or obese.
Obesity as a risk factor: surprising result
“The chronic disease most closely associated with severe Covid infection is obesity, and with a substantially higher risk ratio than any cardiovascular or lung disease,” says the US study. USA
Christopher Petrilli, lead author of the study, said in an interview with “Die Welt”: “It was actually quite a surprising result for us.” It is also important that obesity not only lead to a severe course in combination with other risk factors, but is also an “important, independent and unique factor.”
Young people with obesity are also more severely affected.
A second study by the researchers examined obese patients under the age of 60. Here the connection is even clearer. Younger obese people had to be transferred to hospital and intensive care twice as many times as normal-weight people of the same age.
In the United States, African Americans, Hispanics, and white Americans in socio-economically disadvantaged rural regions are particularly affected by obesity. According to the Robert Koch Institute, about a quarter of adults in Germany are obese.
Obesity: how to calculate your BMI
To determine if you are overweight or even obese, you can easily calculate your body mass index (BMI). To do this, you need to divide your weight by your height in square meters.
You can find a simple BMI calculator here.
A healthy BMI is between 19 and 25. With a lower BMI, you are very likely to be underweight, if your BMI is above 25, you are overweight. Someone is considered obese if their BMI is above 30.
