A new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has found that overweight people are at greater risk of COVID-19 hospitalization.
University College London (UCL) researchers looked at UK Biobank data of over 330,000 UK residents, taken from 2006 to 2010, which includes individuals’ body mass index (BMI), waist-hip ratio, and other factors such as age, ethnicity, smoking, alcohol intake, and physical activity.
The researchers also assessed data related to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and blood samples containing disease biomarkers, cholesterol, HbA1C, and C-reactive protein.
The team then connected this data to Public Health England data on COVID-19 hospitalizations from March 16 to April 26. The testing was restricted to patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 symptoms.
The study found that 640 people were hospitalized after contracting COVID-19 infection and discovered an association between hospitalization and increased BMI.
A person with a BMI between 25 and 30 is considered overweight, while people with a BMI of 30 and above are considered obese.
The researcher found that those who had a BMI above 25 had a 40 percent higher risk of hospitalization, while those with a BMI of more than 30 had a 70 percent risk. Furthermore, for those with severe obesity (BMI over 35), the risk of hospitalization doubled.
Lead author of the study Prof. Mark Hamer of UCL Surgery & Interventional Science said, “In statistical models, we found there was a linear increase in the risk of COVID-19 hospitalization with increasing BMI.”
“This was evident from those overweight, even if only slightly, through to severe obesity, when compared to those of normal weight,” he added. “A similar finding was found for waist-to-hip ratio.”
Previous studies have found a potential link between obesity and progression to ICU due to COVID-19 infection.
Prof. Hamer continued, “Since over two-thirds of Westernized society are overweight or obese, this potentially presents a major risk factor for severe COVID-19 infection and may have implications for policy.”
The researchers tried to identify the potential biological mechanisms behind this association. They found that disease biomarkers, especially high LDL (bad) cholesterol and high HbA1C, increased the risk of hospitalization in overweight people. “The impaired glucose and lipid metabolism (how the body uses types of fat and sugar) appears to be a plausible cause: the links between obesity and COVID-19 infection may be more complex than simple mechanical aspects of excess fat on the diaphragm,” Prof. Hamer added.
