Obesity A Driving Factor In COVID-19 Deaths, Global Report Says
COVID-19 DEATHS – A global study said that the majority of COVID-19 deaths worldwide have been in countries where many people are obese.
The study added said that the said deaths have been in said countries, with coronavirus fatality rates that are 10 times higher in nations where at least 50% of adults are overweight, according to a report from Inquirer.
The report, which described a ‘dramatic’ correlation between COVID-19 fatlities and obesity rates in counties, said that 90% or 2.2 million of the 2.5 million deaths from the pandemic were in nations with high levels of obesity, so far.
It analysed the death figures from Johns Hopkins University in the United States and the World Health Organization’s Global Health Observatory data on obesity.
The authors added that there are no countries where people are mostly not overweight or obese having high death rates.
“Look at countries like Japan and South Korea, where they have very low levels of COVID-19 deaths as well as very low levels of adult obesity,”
“They have prioritised public health across a range of measures, including population weight, and it has paid off in the pandemic.”
This came from Tim Lobstein, the co-author of the report, as well as an expert advisor to the World Obesity Federation and visiting professor at Australia’s Sydney University.
By contrast, the report said that in the United States and Britain, both COVID-19 death rates and obesity levels were among the highest.
UK has the world’s third-highest coronavirus death rate and the fourth-highest obesity rate: 184 COVID-19 fatalities per 100,000 and 63.7% overweight which was followed by the US, with 152.49 COVID-19 fatalities per 100,000 and 67.9% overweight adults.
Based on the report, professor of medicine at Britain’s University of Liverpool and president of the World Obesity Federation John Wilding said that obesity should be recognized as a key COVID-19 health risk and should be taken into account in vaccination plans.
“It’s really important that we recognise that obesity … increases the risk,” he said in a statement about the report’s findings. “Therefore, like other diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, people with obesity should be considered for early priority in vaccination programmes across the world.”
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