Coronavirus has a noticeably wide range of possible outcomes: although many patients survive without recognition without recognizing symptoms, others suffer an attack of complications that eventually lead to death. How each person prepares seems determined by how the disease is compounded by risk factors – a long list of obesity, according to the CDC. However, a surprising new study published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine finds that Obesity – once considered an equal threat to men and women – can only serve as an independent risk factor in men’s cases.
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Although many have assumed that obesity contributes to COVID mortality due to its association with conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, respiratory conditions, and more, the study concludes that obese men – especially middle-aged men under the age of 60 – were worse than normal weight individuals, even in the absence of these conditions.
To reach this conclusion, the team analyzed the health maps of nearly 7,000 members of the Kaiser Permanente Southern California health system, recorded between mid-February and early May. Student participants were a median age of 49 years old, racially diverse, and had a mean BMI of 30, with nearly half considered clinically obese.
Notably, researchers found that the risk level actually went up along with BMI for patients of both sexes. Those considered “extremely obese”, defined as having a BMI of 40 or more, were almost three times more likely to die from coronavirus complications than those of normal weight, and those with a BMI of 45 were more than four times more likely to reach fatalities. outcome. But as the researchers systematically investigated co-morbidities associated with more severe cases of coronavirus, it became clear that obesity in men alone took a significant toll.
Although more research on the subject is needed, The New York Times reports that it is possible that this gender gap in obesity-related morbidity may be explained by how fat is distributed differently in the bodies of men and women. Men concentrate their weight around the abdomen, and have higher levels of visceral fat, which is associated with higher morbidity rates in general.
Women are obviously not completely off the hook. Having a higher BMI can still cause the conditions we know to complicate coronavirus, and maintaining a healthy weight is still associated with better outcomes. As for men, they can add these findings to a growing list of reasons to be extra careful during the pandemic. And for more on how men are disproportionately affected by COVID, say this is why Coronavirus kills more men than women, says new study.
Gallery: COVID symptoms appear normally in this order, research findings (ETNT Health)
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