WEDNESDAY, Aug. 5, 2020 (HealthDay News) — If you’re younger than 65 years old and obese, COVID-19 poses a special danger to you.
A new study reports that the more obese you are, the more likely you are to either die from infection with the new coronavirus or require lifesaving mechanical ventilation to survive.
Morbidly obese COVID-19 patients are 60% more likely to die or require intubation, compared with people of normal weight, researchers found.
Patients who were mildly obese were 10% more likely to die or need a breathing machine, while those who were moderately obese were 30% more likely, according to the study.
“Increasing obesity was associated with an increased risk of lung failure or death in COVID-19,” said lead researcher Dr. Michaela Anderson, a pulmonologist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City.
But obesity only posed a risk for people under 65, researchers added.
Anderson said that’s probably because older folks are sicker, more frail, and more likely to develop respiratory failure with COVID-19 due to health problems unrelated to their weight.
She and her colleagues reviewed medical records for nearly 2,500 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in March and April at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. They looked at body mass index (BMI), which is based on height and weight. Obesity begins at a BMI of 30; morbid obesity is 40 or over.
“At the beginning of the pandemic in New York, we noticed there were a lot of young and obese people who required breathing tubes to help them breathe,” Anderson said. “We were hoping to figure out if weight or body mass index or obesity were associated with the likelihood of developing lung failure if you got infected with COVID.”
About 25% of the patients died and 22% required mechanical ventilation. On average, they were hospitalized for one week, researchers found.
Looking at BMI, researchers found that excess pounds did increase patients’ risk of severe COVID-19 — but only if they were young or middle-aged.
Anderson said there are several reasons why obesity might worsen COVID-19 symptoms, starting with simple body mechanics.