Obesity a Huge Factor for Contracting COVID-19
France's Chief Epidemiologist believes that obesity can be dangerous in times of COVID-19, as obese patients will contract it more than others.
France’s Chief Epidemiologist, Professor Jean-Franois Delfraissy, believes that being overweight can be dangerous in times of COVID-19 more than ever, as people with obesity have a higher chance of contracting it than others.
According to the stats that he shared, around 17 million of France’s population of 67 million were seriously at risk from COVID-19 because of age, preexisting illness or obesity. “This virus is terrible, it can hit young people, in particular obese young people. Those who are overweight really need to be careful,” Delfraissy let the franceinfo radio know.
Professor Delfraissy has stated that they were worried for Americans, as their region is rather well known for obese people. He believes that America will face most of its COVID-19 due to obesity.
Diederik Gommers, Chairman of the Dutch Intensive Care Association, stated last week that in the Netherlands that 66% to 80% of COVID-19 patients in intensive care wards that he had seen were obese.
Impact of Obesity on COVID-19
One of the effects of COVID-19 is a disruption in a function of the immune system called the lymphoid and neutrophil line. These are cells that can tell infection from normal tissue and that need to be kept in careful balance in order to maintain a healthy immune system. Obesity can disrupt this balance and lead to a low level of chronic inflammation of normal tissue.
This places the body under a constant level of physical stress on a microscopic scale. The imbalance in the immune system and chronic inflammation of normal tissue has put people with obesity at increased risk of infections and higher rates of chronic diseases generally. If people who are obese contract COVID-19, they will also be at increased risk of its complications, including breathing difficulties and pneumonia.
There are major challenges when it comes to managing patients with obesity in ICUs. They are physically more difficult to intubate due to the fact that their neck tends to be thicker. This would put pressure on the airways, especially when the patient is flat on his or her back.
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