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The coronavirus has been an unpredictable foe from the start. It triggers silent or barely perceptible infections in some individuals, while in others it sets off a cascade of complications that overwhelm the body and lead to death.
Why some patients sail through the disease and others are felled by it is a question that has bedeviled doctors.
Older age and chronic health conditions like high blood pressure and heart disease are known to increase the risk of severe Covid-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also lists extreme obesity as a high risk.
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But is excess weight in and of itself to blame? Or all of the health problems that accompany obesity, like metabolic disorders and breathing problems?
A new study points to obesity itself as a culprit. An analysis of thousands of patients treated at a Southern California health system identified extreme obesity as an independent risk factor for dying among Covid-19 patients — most strikingly, among younger and middle-aged adults 60 and younger, and particularly among men.
Among women with the illness, body mass index — a measure of body fat based on height and weight — does not appear to be independently associated with an increased risk of dying at any age, the authors said, possibly because women carry weight differently than do men, who tend to have more visceral and abdominal fat. The study was published in Annals of Internal Medicine on Wednesday.
Source: Obesity Raises the Risk of Death From Covid-19 Among Men
