[ad_1]
Patty Nece hasn’t been in a retail store for a whole year.
Even though most businesses in Virginia reopened in July and grocery stores have remained open throughout the pandemic, the 62-year-old has not dared to enter since last March because her obesity puts her at risk. of serious COVID-19.
Due to her illness, she is eligible to receive the vaccine and has an appointment for her first dose on Wednesday. While she’s anxious to get the shot, she’s also disappointed that some Americans have criticized obese people for getting the shot.
“It shows a misunderstanding… the weight is not always in your control,” said Nece, who is also the chair of the Obesity Action Coalition. “Like many illnesses, there is personal responsibility, but it is not the end. The mantra of eating less and moving more – which I have heard all my life – is not the answer.
In one case, a news anchor for WTTG-TV in Washington, DC, sent a tweet criticizing health officials for prioritizing obese patients for the vaccine.
“I’m annoyed that obese people of all ages have priority access to vaccines ahead of all essential workers,” Blake McCoy said in the since deleted tweet. “Vaccinate all essential workers. Then obese.
The local station told the New York Daily News that McCoy was “suspended pending further consideration” after the offending tweet was deleted. and posting an apology on Twitter, but health experts say it’s another example of how weight bias permeates the healthcare system and American society.
Obesity and COVID-19
About 40% of adult Americans suffer from obesity, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2018. Studies have shown that obese people are more likely to have worse outcomes with COVID-19 than others. with a lower body mass index (BMI).
Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that people with a BMI over 30 had a 113% higher risk of hospitalization, a 74% higher risk of hospitalization, and a risk of 48% higher death, according to a study published in August. 2020 in obesity reviews.
At first, health experts believed that obese people were at higher risk of developing severe COVID-19, as the disease is also associated with many underlying risk factors, including hypertension, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney and liver disease.
But after controlling for these factors, researchers found that obese people still had a higher risk of COVID-19, said Dr. Rekha Kumar, medical director of the American Board of Obesity Medicine and associate professor of clinical medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. Part of this may be due to the excess fat tissue producing more inflammation, she said.
Four states have rescinded mask warrants: Others might be on their way. Here’s what that could mean for all of us.
COVID vaccines for all: Three vaccines. Increase in manufacturing. How the United States will have enough COVID-19 vaccine for every American adult in May – or even sooner.
“People’s bodies are mounting such a severe inflammatory response (to COVID-19), and that response already exists at a basic level in obesity,” Kumar said. “So when you add another stimulus, they get even sicker.”
Some patients may also suffer from obesity hypoventilation syndrome, a respiratory disorder that causes a person to have too much carbon dioxide and too little oxygen in the blood, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
“It’s not about carrying the weight,” said Dr. Ethan Lazarus, president-elect of the Obesity Medicine Association. “Their lungs are limited, so they can’t expand to get the oxygen they need.” This puts them at additional risk of complications from COVID-19.
Patients with obesity also have weakened immune systems, according to health experts, which not only makes them more prone to infectious diseases, but also harder to fight off.
Obesity can alter the metabolic state of immune cells and how they function, said Dr. Nancie MacIver, associate professor at Duke University School of Medicine. Excess inflammation can indicate that the immune system is dysfunctional.
Obesity and the COVID vaccine
The impaired immune system of obese patients has led experts to worry about their response to the COVID-19 vaccine, especially since previous studies have suggested that they may not respond as well to influenza vaccines.
Researchers at UNC Chapel Hill found that among those vaccinated, nearly 10% of obese patients were infected with the flu, compared to about 5% of participants with a lower BMI, according to a 2017 study published in the International. Journal of Obesity.
But health experts say obese patients shouldn’t be deterred and urge them to get the COVID-19 vaccine when it’s available to them.
“People should understand the difference between ineffective effectiveness and reduced effectiveness,” Kumar said. “Even if a vaccine works less, it’s still better than someone who becomes seriously ill in an intensive care unit.”
Nece worries that as an obesity patient others like her could delay care during the pandemic due to decades of weight bias in the healthcare system.
Obesity Awareness Week and Weight Bias
Weight bias in the medical community manifests itself in multiple ways, ranging from ill-fitting gowns and weighing patients in public, to the misdiagnosis of a life-threatening illness due to a doctor’s inability to look at the camera. – beyond the excess weight of a person.
After years of weight conferences and bad doctor’s office experiences, many patients internalize this bias and avoid treatment or preventative care altogether, said James Zervios, vice president of marketing and communications for Obesity Action. Coalition.
Nece delayed her mammogram for 15 years to avoid the stress and embarrassment of a doctor visit.
“You are tired of taking care of it,” she said. “You have had enough of the shame and blame piling up on you and it doesn’t help.”
But during Obesity Care Week, which ends on Saturday, advocates like Zervios and Nece want to raise awareness that obesity is not just a behavioral disease and can be influenced by genetics, hormones. and even drugs.
They are also urging those suffering from obesity to seek help from health care providers despite the weight bias, especially during the pandemic.
“We encourage people to remember that they deserve the attention they deserve and not to take that kind of bias and face it,” Zervios said. “Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.”
Follow Adrianna Rodriguez on Twitter: @AdriannaUSAT.
Patient health and safety coverage at USA TODAY is made possible in part by a grant from the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation and Competition in Healthcare. The Masimo Foundation does not provide editorial contributions.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: COVID Vaccine: CDC, States Prioritize Obese People. Here’s why.
[ad_2]
Source link