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Obese people, men at high death risk due to coronavirus – Why being overweight is a risk factor for COVID-19 | Photo Credits: Pixabay & nbsp
Key Highlights
- The coronavirus outbreak has affected millions of people around the world
- A study in the UK has found that obese people, and men are at a higher risk of death due to coronavirus infection
- The study mentioned that these findings were not found in China, probably because the rate of obesity in China is much lower than that in UK
New Delhi: When a new coronavirus was discovered to be causing pneumonia-like sickness in Wuhan, China, researchers and medical experts from all over the world began their quest to gather information about the virus, how it affects the body, and the best ways to tackle it . Pregnant women, elderly, people with existing health conditions, smokers, etc were put in the high-risk category.
Later, various studies also found that men are more likely to be affected by the virus than women. Recent developments have also listed obesity as a risk factor. A study in the UK has also found that obese people, especially men among them, are at high risk of mortality due to the coronavirus infection.
The study was conducted on 16,749 people from 166 hospitals. It was found that the virus is more lethal for male / obese patients.
Male and obese patients, according to the study, are at a higher risk of dying due to the COVID-19 infection, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, now called SARS-CoV-2. The study was carried out by researchers from Edinburgh University, Liverpool University, and Imperial College, London.
According to the study, being obese can significantly up your risk of mortality due to COVID-19, an observation not made at the place of origin of the virus, China. This could be because China has way fewer rates of obesity than in the UK. Obesity was seen as a risk factor in all age groups.
“Although age-adjusted mortality rates are high in the elderly, most of these patients were admitted to hospital with symptoms of Covid-19 and would not have died otherwise”, the study, published in medRxiv noted.
Why is being overweight a risk factor for COVID-19 patients?
Obesity is known to be the risk factor for various chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes, cancer, etc. Therefore, in some ways, obesity can be a cause behind more health conditions, that increases the risk of death due to COVID-19 as well. Apart from that, researchers have also found that obesity can give rise to the cytokine storm in the body – a reaction of the immune system of the body, which is being held responsible by various doctors and experts for deaths due to COVID-19.
According to researchers, obese people can suffer from reduced lung function due to inflammation in adipose tissue. This can trigger a cytokine storm and lead to death.
