The first large study was conducted on more than 6.9 million people living in England, including over 20,000 COVID-19 patients who were hospitalised or died, by researchers from the University of Oxford in the UK. The study was Published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal and it related higher body weight and increased complication risk of Covid 19, covering wide range of Body Mass Index (BMI).
Body Mass Index (BMI) is a person’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters and an indicator of body fat.
The study discovered people with healthy BMI range( > 23 kgs/m2) started to have increased risk of covid 19 complications and also stated that possibility of ICU admissions increased 10 percent for each unit of BMI and the possibility of hospitalisation increased 5 percent for each unit of BMI.
“Our study shows that even very modest excess weight is associated with greater risks of severe COVID-19 complications and the risks rise sharply as BMI increases,” said Carmen Piernas, lead author of the study, from the University of Oxford.
‘The effect of bodyweight on Covid-19 complexity’
In accordance with the study, the outcome of higher BMI on the risk of severe COVID-19 was greatest in young people aged 20 to 39 years of age; decreased after age 60 and had less impact on people aged 80 years above.
the study has highlighted the importance to obese people in younger age group for vaccination. Though the study has several limitations like smaller sample of people with recent BMI measurements, first study that probed the consequences of excess weight on COVID-19 outcomes across the full range of BMI.
Source: Medindia
