Study finds link between risk of coronavirus mortality and obesity

The World Obesity Foundation on Thursday released a new study that found a link between a country’s COVID-19 mortality and the prevalence of obesity in its population.

The researchers found “high death rates only in countries where the prevalence of overweight exceeds about 50% of the adult population.”

“Globally, at the end of 2020, COVID-19 death rates were more than ten times higher in countries where the prevalence of overweight exceeds 50% of adults (weighted average of 66.8 deaths per 100,000 adults) compared to countries where the prevalence of overweight is less than 50% of adults (weighted average 4.5 deaths per 100,000 adults), ”wrote the World Obesity Foundation.

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Researchers claimed that a country’s wealth, reporting ability, senior population and other factors could not explain the link between COVID-19 and obesity.

The United States has one of the highest obesity rates in the world, dropping from 30.5% to 42.4% of the population over the past 18 years, according to the CDC. The United States also has the 9th highest COVID-19 death rate in the world with 158.43 deaths per 100,000 people, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The CDC notes that obesity can triple the risk of hospitalization from COVID-19 because it leads to impaired immune function and can decrease lung capacity.

There are some exceptions to the World Obesity Foundation’s findings, as countries like New Zealand, Australia, and some Gulf states have relatively high obesity rates but low COVID-19 death rates.

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“These numbers are clearly affected by national responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, and will change as the pandemic unfolds and vaccination programs are expanded,” the researchers wrote.

But there is evidence that vaccines currently being rolled out around the world are less effective in obese people.

Researchers at the National Cancer Institute Regina Elena in Rome found in a study on the pre-print server Medrxiv, which has not yet been peer reviewed, that obese people produce significantly less antibodies after being vaccinated than those with normal body weight.