It is becoming increasingly clear that obesity is one of the biggest risk factors for severe COVID-19 disease, particularly among younger patients. Recently published data from New York show that among those under 60, obesity was twice as likely to result in hospitalization for COVID-19 and also significantly increased the likelihood that a person would end up in intensive care.
Obesity and severe obesity were significantly more prevalent among the patients with COVID-19, at 47.6% and 28.2%, versus 25.2% and 10.8% among historical controls (P < .001 for trend). A key finding was that those with a BMI > 35 kg/m2 had a more than the sevenfold increased risk of requiring mechanical ventilation (odds ratio [OR], 7.36; P = .021), compared to those with a BMI < 25 kg/m2, even after adjusting for age, diabetes, and hypertension.
The culprit behind the increased risk of disease severity seen with obesity in COVID-19 is inflammation, mediated by fibrin deposits in the circulation, which "block oxygen passage through the blood, thus aggravating Severe acute respiratory syndrome.
"Patients with obesity should avoid any COVID-19 contamination by enforcing all prevention measures during the current pandemic,"
Clin Infect Dis. Published online April 9, 2020. Letter
medRxiv. Published online April 11, 2020. Full text
Obesity. Published online April 9, 2020. Full text
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