As obesity is suggested to be a risk factor of COVID-19, possible relationship between COVID-19 death (data from Johns Hopkins Univ.) and obesity was plotted on a graph (attached file). Since COVID-19 patient data is not readily available, average overweight population or BMI by nation (data from Our World in Data) was used as a surrogate. As shown in attached Fig, nation with average BMI lower than 25 exhibits extremely low COVID-19 death especially for male. This might be related to activated Akt/TORC1 pathway in obesity, of which pathway has an impact on immunity and inflammation. On the other hand, interestingly, quite a few countries with high average BMI showed very low mortality as that with low BMI. Although BMI here is not real patient data, provided that high BMI patients actually resulted in low death probability in some COVID-19 infected segments, we should look into underlying mechanism in detail. There might be some way to find potential COVID-19 therapeutics. I hope that some researchers already have a clue.
COVID-19 and Obesity: A syndrome of risk factors for morbidity and mortality
COVID-19 is more common and more severe in obese people. This is because obesity is a syndrome that combines so many risk factors for COVID-19 morbidity, severity, and poor prognosis.
These risk factors in obesity include hypertension, diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, poor physical fitness, heart disease, and the complications of these diseases.
The articles below give an insight into these issues:
1. Article Obesity and COVID-19 outcomes: a risk factor that needs attention
2. Article Risk of COVID-19 for patients with obesity
3. Article The mutual effects of COVID-19 and obesity
4. Article Obesity as a predictor for a poor prognosis of COVID-19: A s...
- Makoto Inoue This article can clear the perception about these issues
El COVID-19 presenta un proceso inflamatorio donde intervienen las Citokinas, y la Obesidad también es un proceso inflamatorio que agravaría el pronóstico del paciente.
Please, check this one
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/latest-evidence-on-obesity-and-covid-19
Greetings to you can benefit from this discussion https://www.researchgate.net/post/Whats_the_relationship_between_Obesity_and_covid19_infection?
Very Interesting - Let us look - https://www.thehindu.com/data/data-obesity-linked-to-serious-coronavirus-illness-even-in-younger-patients-poor-too-are-at-high-risk/article31578998.ece
Not the COVID-19 actually, the duration of lockdown or the strategy of controlling spread of Corona might be the major factor in obesity.If the control strategy is changed with normal activities then no way to think about that.
Please have a look at the following RG links.
Article Obesity�‑�a risk factor for increased COVID‑19 prevalence, s...
Article Obesity as a predictor for a poor prognosis of COVID-19: A s...
Article Obesity and COVID-19 outcomes: a risk factor that needs attention
Article Obesity and Outcomes in COVID-19: When an Epidemic and Pande...
- Studies from China showed that people who developed critical COVID-19 and died had a higher BMI on average than people who had more moderate cases of the virus and recovered.
- Research from the US has shown that younger patients admitted to hospital are more likely to be obese.
- Of the people admitted to ICU with COVID-19 in the UK, 73% were overweight or obese.
""Having a BMI of 30 or higher increases a person's risk of developing a severe case of COVID-19 by 27%," Dr. Stephens says. "And a BMI of 40 or higher doubles a person's risk.""
https://www.houstonmethodist.org/blog/articles/2020/jun/obesity-and-covid-19-can-your-weight-alone-put-you-at-higher-risk/
Following news draws attention to the possibility of COVID-19 binding to neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), anti-infective traps, which is physicochemically related to heparin with regard to high negative charge:
https://www.fiercebiotech.com/research/how-covid-19-could-be-crippled-by-age-old-blood-thinner?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTnpJM05qbGhNVFkyWlRSaCIsInQiOiJJKzNkbXpVYktpRDE5Wnc5eTRjcjJJbTRjT2JsRVJrY0ozWUZ2U0RcL0t3UmY3QnJ6TDZXRDJOcUNwUDhvb1hvQ0RRQ1wvcmxsXC9nczArcHkrUW44T3lUYWZodWEySklUWnNpNFVpTDlTTk1JYlZXQjJcL2ZneTNaaXNHMFBQMm5WcFExeDJNRUJUTlp6MzBaYjBCMW5HNE5BPT0ifQ%3D%3D&mrkid=89155229
Interesting to note is that NETs are reported to be increased in obesity ( https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-51220-x ).
Furthermore, NETs harbor harmful proteins such as histone and inflammatory molecules ( Article Role of platelets in neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) pro...
). Providing that COVID-19 bind to NETs by competing with these proteins, these molecules can be released to trigger cellular damage. Is this can be one of the reasons that obesity increase the risk of severity in obese population?
Obesity causes restricted breathing, making it more difficult to clear pneumonia and other respiratory infections. Fat is biologically active and a source of pro-inflammatory chemicals, promoting a state of chronic inflammation in the body even before Covid-19 sets in.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/14/health/covid-19-obesity.html
A coexistência de uma pandemia de obesidade, que em alguns países ocidentais chega até 40% da população adulta, como os Estados Unidos, a COVID-19 pode tornar-se ainda mais perigosa.No Brasil, o número de obesos aumentou 72,03% entre 2006 e 2019, segundo Pesquisa de Vigilância de Fatores de Risco e Proteção para Doenças crônicas por Inquérito Telefônico (Vigitel). Cerca de 55,4% da população apresenta excesso de peso e 20,3% de adultos obesos, sendo semelhante entre homens e mulheres.
Obesity already comes with risks for respiratory diseases and restrictions so adding the virus to the mix does not lead to a good prognosis.
Dear researchers I searching for data, support, and explanations for the dramatic worst mortality data of Lombardia (N. Italy) in the first pandemic phase. Thanks for possible aid.
https://www.researchgate.net/post/The_novel_Coronavirus_in_N_Italy_Lombardia_COVID19_2019nCoV_SARSCoV2_shows_a_fatality_rate_compatible_with_SARS-MERS_Why
Linked pre-print papers: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341325862
Stay safe --sv--